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MARCH 1969 Serving Architectural, Engineering and Scientific Interests in the State of Georgia VOL. XXVII No. 3 In This Issue : From the Editor's Desk Programs for April ------------------------------------- ---President Bagley's Letter --------------------------------- ---personal Shorts ----- -- ----------- - ------- - ----------- ------Georgia Tech Short Courses -------- - ------ - ------------------Formula for Success ----------------------- -- ---------------Ra id Transit Now - Another Look __ __ __ ___ _ __________________ 3 5 9 11 19 21 22 Sustaining Members Listing -- ---- -------- -- -- ----------------- 28 �THE GEORGIA ENGINEER "Serving the Architectural and Engineering Inter ests in the Stat e of Georgia" [Bl _ n_ r""!!' --

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- - UM1rn•,_11o,- -· ... - l ~ ,,.,C"V,11 -· Published each month by t he Georgia Architectural & Engineering Society. Subscription price $3 per year . Advertising rates quoted upon application. Address all correspondence to the Business Office, Georgia Engineer, 230 Spring Street, N.W., Atlanta, Ga. 30303. Telephone 525-9046. - f.. , _ Publications Committee STEW ART M. HUEY Chairman and Editor •• "~,,..,.,n,•~..-u •Q I.e. BURTON J. BELL Editor Emeritus ·-u..)iQVI.I.YO MRS. ELIZABETH T. DONALDSON Mr. Superintendent! Is your Turbidity sh Ow ing ? Better _check it with TURB ITRO L'S* /Filter Effluent Turbidity, that is!} direct reading Turbidity monitoring sys t em• F~r complete information abo~t this new system write or call for Turbitrol System Standard Bulletin SS1002. •scrvicomo rk- A Diviiion o f Tho Toulmo n Company /~ A Division of The Tauhna.n Company CHAR LOTTE ATLANTA 415 E. Paces Ferry Ad.. N. E. A llanta, G rgra 30305 • P. 0. Box 24117 Cha! lottc, North Carolina Business Manager C. T. "Tom" Bagley _________ _President La ndis C. Worthy __ First Vice President Matthew A. Hitlin ___ ______ second Vice President Harry L. Fox ______ ____ Immediate P ast President Robert H. Cording __________ _Secretary Mathew W . Spearman _______ _Treasurer William T. Cantrell __ Director 1967-1969 B. I. Garland _____ __Director 1967-1969 Stewart M. Huey ____ Director 1968-1970 William F. Norman __ Director 1968-1970 Roger W. Goforth ___ Director 1969-1971 Robert F . Haller ____ Director 1969-1971 COMMITTEE CHAIRMEN David P. Page, Jr. __ _____ ___ Affiliations Wa1ter H. West _______ Annual Meeting P . G. Singleton _________ Annua l Outing John 0. Sholar _______ _ Annua l Outing Harry L. Fox ___ _________ Civil Defense S. F . McAuley __________ ____ ____Codes Samuel L . Hubbs _________ _ Education Edward A. Moulthrop ______ __ Emblems Wm. F. Norma n ______________ Finance Alfred E. Bruner __________ Hospitality Matthew A. Hitlin ___ ________ ___ House Joe T . LaBoon ____ ____________ __ Legal Wm. A. N oble ____ ____ ___ _Legislature Robert H. Cording ________ Membership Bernard I. Garland ____ _______ P rogram William T. Cantrell ____ Public Relations Stewart M. Huey __________ Publications J ohn M. F1anigen ________ Qualifications H arold M. Horton __ ______ Registration \ l From The Editor s Desk 1 The prog-rams at our weekly luncheon meetings continue to be excellent. Next month, we'll have some photos of the Science Congress winners as they present t heir achievements to the Society. This month we r eport on perhaps the "sleeper" program of the year - t he one t hat really made a lot of m embers say, "Why couldn't it be done that way ?" There may be several good r easons why N orman Stambaugh 's plan for a r ailr oad oriented rapid transit won't work, and we publish his paper so t hose who know will know we want ar t hose r easons. That paper begins on page 22. Keep the last weekend in May open for our Annua l Summer Outing. The Committee is already hard at work, a nd details will be for t hcoming. Stewart Huey, Editor (g) MIAMI • P O Box 1680 CorJI Gabll."S, Florida QUOTES WE LI KE "A real friend never gets in your way ... Unless y ou hapven to be on t he w ay down." - THE GEORGIA ENGINEER 2 r March, 1969 ANON. 3 �TRANSIT NOW-ANOTHER LOOK by Norman Stambaugh B ack in 1952, I became interested and made some studies to show that t he railroads had a natural facility to start a Rapid Transit system for Atlanta, but I couldn't arouse much interest. The railroad said they didn't want any part of it, because of feather bedding and union domination they couldn't make it pay . . Then our expressway came along and it looked as though we at last had the answer. But our first expressway wasn't finished before it became apparent we had created a noth er monster that we could not seem to control. Yes, these expressways move a lot of vehicles, but at a slower, and slower, and more exasperating pace. To expand, these are g utting our cities, and soon there will be nothing left but expressways and parking lots, with the people and facilities they should serve moving away and leaving them to die if nothing succeeds · in solving the problem . It is not hard to see that mass movement of people, and doing away with much of the need for movement would do much to correct this, but mean,s for satisfactory mass movement and intelligent long range planning is not yet realistic. Why we are where we are, and as we are, is important. Some say Atlanta developed from cow paths-but this is not true. Atlanta did g row from paths or trails that t h e early inhabitants created and used. It was the conflux of such trave l as existed then, and still is the Conflux of todays t r ave l by rail - auto - truck - air - and foreseeably by water. Even when railroads were very new, they reac hed out from the ports and factories toward a conflux or junction, where East, South, West and North met, and exchanged their resources, and so Atlanta grew. Since it was primative, it g r ew a long these arteries, and so Atlanta today, and its outlying towns, are largely developed along the railroads, and this is tremendously important. This is why I am concerned. They didn't put the railroads thru Atlanta- At22 p RO POSED · R. E.Gl ON AL -R.A I L R..OA D · R.APID·TRANS IT TO· SEQVE_- AT LANT A· lanta developed a long the railroad. Thus railroads are here now-open, flowing arteries. To use them to their real capacity is mandatory. Why deface our city when it is not necessary-let's use what we h ave ! Look at the accompaning map - can you show us a better place to put our rapid transit-that is, mass rapid transit? An a uto is a selfish thing-"! will ride it a lone, or my family will ride it, thus I will occupy the highway, and you be damned. If I want to go slow-I will. If I want to speed and jump lanes, I will, etc. etc. We cannot solve our transit needs by your's or my auto in a metropolitan environment. But if you could conveniently use your car to get to a place where you would be able to whisk, in minutes, near to where you want to go, your car would be a help. With your car and rapid transit together, a solution to our dilemma is found, for we will keep the autos off of our downtown streets, leaving surface buses, routed to radiate out from the transit stops more speedily and efficiently. Parking lots could become sites buildings, factories, and stores. Better congested city dwelling would not be essary, but people could move out to ellite towns instead. T-28!> To I-20 ] for still, necsat- . I now want to become specific. L ook at the black lines on the map? They are railroad right of w ays ! Note that these railroads do not end at Doraville, College Park, Decatur, or the Airport as doe;; the MARTA plan, but they go on to Buford, and Gainesville, Palmetto, or N ewnan, Jonesboro or Griffin , Decatur or Covington, Emory or Athens. This brings me to what I am really offering, or visualizing. Instead of a very expensive system, as proposed by MART A, going throug h already densely developed sections, I propose that the railroads be developed to handle t h e rapid transit, not just from Lenox or Decatur, or Hightower Road, (Continued on Pag e 2 7) THE GEORGIA ENGINEER LEGE.ND: RA IL ROAD~ - - - -...... -Sulli=Acf.B145: - - Su ~wAy

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This sketch illustrates the suggestions made in Norman Stambaugh's article, " Rapid Transit Now-Another Look." March, 1969

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THE GEORGIA ENGINEER

that the interest on the bonds that would be required by MARTA would care for the subsidy. Why should the State pick up this but from farther out, as expansion needs tab? Because it will help the entire State. It will mean everything to the satellite call for. There are reasons why this is very good. cities. It will also mean that instead of the State having to build extra expressways, If no more is provided than MART A has the rapid transit will reduce the growing proposed, nothing more than a glut of high rise apartments will develop, and the chance load on t h e expressways and eliminate some for home ownership, on a decent plot of land new ones. Of course, something would have will disappear. If industry is served by to be worked out to provide these funds to MARTA's proposed transit, residential areas the Highway. Some suggestions are that must disappear and then the city will be- the Federal Government might make grants to cover capital costs, such ·as it is doing come less and less useful. On the other hand, if rapid transit is . for the Airports and trucking industry. When the actual interurban rapid tranprovided from the smaller satellite cities, sit is taken care of by the railroads, who then family living in healthful open space is possibie, where schools, community cen- are most qualified, and with fewer private ters, and typical American living is possi- vehicles on the street, the present city tranble. Also, along these railroads are the sit system should be revamped to provide logical industrial sites, and with rapid tran- better routes out from the rapid transit sit provided from the population centers, stops, and avoid lines converging into the workers can reach their job without the downtown area as now. The city-transit should also remain in the hands of its prinerve racking traffic problems now faced vate operating company; but to maintain by all who work in large plants. low cost transportation it will be necessary This is but a rough generalization of for both Rapid Transit, and street transit what I am proposing·. But, you say, even to be subsidized. However , low fares alone "MARTA" planned to make use of the railwill not make the overall transit system roads, where are you so different? work-other vital ingredients will be necesSpecifically, I am proposing what has sary, such as conveniences, speed, parking, been done in Philadelphia and what is being and access roads must be provided to get to proposed in the Cincinnati, Dayton area, and the stop. It means that modern electronic in others recently heard from-that is let safety and schedule control must be prothe railroads, who have the vital right-ofvided. way, know how, track building equipment, Best of a ll, this could start taking place and trained crew handle the development this year if the legislatur e could act, and and operations of the rapid transit facilithe working arrangements be set up, whereties. But you say, " You just said the rail- as if we wait for MARTA, perhaps Atlanta roads want no part of it." That was back will be so fouled up that it will not matter in 1952, and today, if th ey would not have anyhow. to invest their capital to do this job, but be I for one want a Rapid Transit, but to subsidized to the extent that they cou1d be Region a l, and not MARTA. I was glad derive reasonable income on their investthe Governor scotched the MART A plan. I ment, they would. have reason to believe he will go for this This is the crux. I propose that the State Regional Plan. The State can participate - possibly through the Highway Departon a regional plan, but would find it hard ment - subsidize the capital improvements to go a long on MARTA. n eeded and g uarantee the annual reasonable I hope I have been able to start someincome for this. It is believed by some that thing-that more able politicians, and enthis would be far cheaper than to acquire gineers take this up and put it over. It is the right-of-way, equipment, a nd operation what we need . It will do the trick and can of the proposed project that MARTA be done decades before anythin g· else could. planned. In fact, it is consider ed possible

Another Look at Rapid Transit- Con't.

March, 1969

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