MARTA pedestrian bridge installation to briefly block train access

Josh Green

Thu, 11/21/2024 – 15:51

Rail commuters take note: Efforts to improve pedestrian and bicyclist access to MARTA’s easternmost train station will interrupt service for a couple of days soon.

MARTA officials say trains will not service the Indian Creek rail station on Sunday, Dec. 8 and Monday, Dec. 9 to allow for the installation of a new pedestrian bridge over active rail.

That means the Kensington Station near downtown Avondale Estates will temporarily serve as the end of MARTA’s Blue Line next month.

Indian Creek’s parking lots will remain open during the closure, and MARTA plans to run regular bus shuttles between Indian Creek and Kensington stations during the service interruption.

All bus routes serving Indian Creek station will continue running as scheduled. MARTA is advising customers who arrive by car to park at Kensington station, if possible.

According to MARTA officials, the new bridge will boost access to Indian Creek station for people on foot and bikes, while better connecting the station to a planned trail network in the area.

Courtesy of MARTA

The bridge is a key component of the broader Indian Creek Station Rehabilitation Project. That initiative is renovating the station’s western plaza, installing new flooring and bathrooms, and making improvements to fare gates and the bus loop to improve the customer experience, per MARTA.

But much bigger changes are percolating around Indian Creek station eventually.

MARTA has compiled plans for a nearly 1.7-million-square-foot Transit-Oriented Development that would replace parking lots just south of the station with a dense collection of buildings, greenspaces, plazas, and parking structures, all located just outside the Interstate 285 loop in Stone Mountain.

The full project calls for 1,600 residential units consuming the vast majority of new development, set among 4 acres of parks and recreation space with a multi-use trail. The DeKalb County Board of Commissioners approved rezoning of the 64 acres in question in May.

Should it come to fruition as shown in master-planning documents, the project would dwarf all others in MARTA’s TOD portfolio. No timeline for development has been specified.

The Indian Creek station’s location near Interstate 285 in Stone Mountain, just east of Avondale Estates. Google Maps