by T.A. DeFeo
The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority re-opened its Airport Station on Monday following a six-week closure as part of a multi-million-dollar station update.
The $55 million upgrade to the station connected to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is part of a systemwide, roughly $1 billion multi-year Station Rehabilitation Program initiative to overhaul all 38 stations. The transit agency is paying for the upgrades using State of Good Repair Funds from its capital budget.
The station has been closed since April 8 as crews installed new terrazzo flooring in the concourse and new platform pavers. Workers also repaired, sealed and painted track and concourse walls and prepared to install a new canopy matching the airport’s canopy.
“I think these are critical investments to our public and personnel — not just from the riders that we do have, but what about looking at the riders that we have not captured yet,” MARTA Senior Project Manager Jermaine White told The Center Square.
“We’re looking at people that come in town,” White added. “Being adjacent to the world’s busiest airport, that means a lot of people are coming here that have never been here before. So we’re looking at all these things and thinking about the totality of the investment of getting all the riders — returning riders, new riders and those who have not even been proposed as riders as of yet.”
MARTA started rehabilitation work at the Airport Station in June 2022. Agency officials said temporarily closing the station reduced the construction time by 17 months.
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T.A. DeFeo is a contributor to The Center Square.
Photo “MARTA Everyday” by MARTA.
