The Atlanta Regional Commission has Completed the I-285 Transit Feasibility Study. This study assessed the potential for implementing a fixed guideway transit facility in northern metropolitan Atlanta. It evaluated bus rapid transit (BRT) and light rail transit (LRT) along several possible alignments to assess the potential of implementing a transit facility based on factors such as natural features, environmental and mobility impacts, and costs. The study area consisted of a corridor one mile in width centered on I-285 from the I-75 corridor on the west to the I-85 corridor on the east. This connects the proposed Northwest Fixed Guideway facility along I-75 to the existing Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) North and Northeast Lines.

This study was a primary recommendation of the Marietta-Lawrenceville Transportation Study (MLTS), which considered a broad range of solutions to unmet mobility demands in the northern metropolitan area. As such, it built upon the findings of the MLTS, especially the Phase I evaluations of Alternative Corridor D, which included the I-285 corridor.

Upon completion of the I-285 Transit Feasibility Study, ARC was approached by a coalition of Community Improvement Districts (CID) composed of the Fulton and DeKalb Perimeter CIDs and the Cumberland CID and asked to move this project into an official Alternatives Analysis and Draft Environmental Impact Statement (AA/DEIS). These CIDs have provided approximately $1.2 million to leverage additional federal funds to pay for the AA/DEIS. ARC expects to begin work on this project in early January 2003. As a part of this effort several tasks will be accomplished. These tasks are listed below: