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In This Issue:
From the Editor’s Desk - ena ye tence 3
Programs ton, Ap riln cee — ae Se ee ee ee ; 5
President Bagley’s Letter __- eS 3 ee eR eee 9
PersonaliiShorts 2s Sea ee eS 1]
Georgia Tech Short Courses ____ sale 19
Formula for Success _____. az. igs eee eee. 2)
Rapid Transit Now — Anatat hank : gy ne eget ee 2g
Sustaining Members Listing —_——~ See eee 28
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Mr. Superintendent!
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THE GEORGIA ENGINEER
“Serving the Architectural and Engineering Interests in the State of Georgia”
Published each month by the 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.
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THE GEORGIA ENGINEER
Publications Committee COMMITTEE CHAIRMEN
STEWART M. HUEY David P. Page, Jr. .-------- Affiliations
Chairman and Editor Walter H. West _______ Annual Meeting
BURTON J. BELL P. G. Singleton ___-_--__ Annual Outing
Editor Emeritus John O. Sholar __-_---_ Annual Outing
MRS. ELIZABETH T. DONALDSON | H@?ty L. Fox ------------ Ci Petense
Business Manager S. F. McAuley —--.---.-------— Codes
(ope teas Decent Samuel L. Hubbs —_---_____ Education
; oe Pom" Bacley =. 2.2: residen
Landis C. Worthy -_First Vice President ey Ward, Bo MOU ROR men Henenis
Matthew A. Hitlin —-_______ Second Vice || Wm- F- Norman --—------—- <x, BEANS
President | Alfred E. Bruner ____-____- Hospitality
Harry L. Fox __________ Immediate Past | Matthew A. Hitlin __-._-___----___ House
President | Joe T. LaBoon ____----_____-___- Legal
ore SS es =e = ecretary | Wm. A. Noble ____________ Legislature
athew W. Spearman ____~_ .__lreasurer i i
William T. Gantrell .Director 1967-1969 | Robert H. Cording ------—- meteparey |
: Bernard I. Garland __..-______ Program
B. I. Garland ___-___ Director 1967-1969 eas 5 3
Stewart M. Huey ____Director 1968-1970 William T. Cantrell ____ Public Relations
William F, Norman —_Director 1968-1970 | Stewart M. Huey --------_- Publications
Roger W. Goforth ___Director 1969-1971 | John M. Flanigen —-----~- Qualifications
Robert F. Haller ____Director 1969-1971 | Harold M. Horton —_.__-__ Registration
From The Editor’s Desk
The programs at our weekly luncheon meetings continue to be excellent. Next
month, we'll have some photos of the Science Congress winners as they present their
achievements to the Society.
This month we report on perhaps the “sleeper” program of the year — the one
that really made a lot of members say, “Why couldn’t it be done that way?” There
may be several good reasons why Norman Stambaugh’s plan for a railroad oriented
rapid transit won’t work, and we publish his paper so those who know will know we
ar those reasons. That paper begins on page 22.
. Keep the last weekend in May open for our Annual Summer Outing. The Com-
mittee is already hard at work, and details will be forthcoming.
Stewart Huey, Editor
QUOTES WE LIKE
“A real friend never gets in your way...
... Unless you happen to be on the way down.”
—ANON.
March, 1969 3
RAPID TRANSIT NOW — ANOTHER LOOK
by Norman Stambaugh
BB in 1952, I became interested and
made some studies to show that the
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 ex-
pressway 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 another
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 gutting 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 means for satisfactory mass
movement and intelligent long range plan-
ning is not yet realistic.
Why we are where we are, and as we
are, is important. Some say Atlanta devel-
oped from cow paths—but this is not true.
Atlanta did grow from paths or trails that
the early inhabitants created and used. It
was the conflux of such travel as existed
then, and still is the Conflux of todays
travel by rail - auto - truck - air - and fore-
seeably by water.
Even when railroads were very new, they
reached 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 grew along these
arteries, and so Atlanta today, and its out-
lying towns, are largely developed along
the railroads, and this is tremendously im-
portant. This is why I am concerned. They
didn’t put the railroads thru Atlanta—At-
22
lanta developed along the railroad. Thus
railroads are here now—open, flowing ar-
teries. To use them to their real capacity
is mandatory. Why deface our city when
it is not necessary—let’s use what we have!
Look at the accompaning map — can
you show us a better place to put our rapid
transit—that is, mass rapid transit?
An auto is a selfish thinge—“I will ride
it alone, 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, ete.
etc. We cannot solve our transit needs by
your’s or my auto in a metropolitan en-
vironment. 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 to-
gether, a solution to our dilemma is found,
for we will keep the autos off of our down-
town streets, leaving surface buses, routed
to radiate out from the transit stops more
speedily and efficiently.
Parking lots could become sites for
buildings, factories, and stores. Better still,
congested city dwelling would not be nec-
essary, but people could move out to sat-.
ellite towns instead.
I now want to become specific. Look at
the black lines on the map? They are rail-
road right of ways! Note that these rail-
roads do not end at Doraville, College Park,
Decatur, or the Airport as does the MARTA
plan, but they go on to Buford, and Gaines-
ville, Palmetto, or Newnan, 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 MARTA,
going through already densely developed
sections, I propose that the railroads be de-
veloped to handle the rapid transit, not just
from Lenox or Decatur, or Hightower Road,
(Continued on Page 27)
THE GEORGIA ENGINEER
PROPOSED-REGIONAL
RAILROAD-RAPID-TRANSIT
TO: SERVE: ATLANTA:
‘
—_
on
Brook wooed
Junction
SO
Te DovelasviLLe
MoRY
Tes 20 TRANSFER QZ &
STATION SE GA.
AiR PoR
on
=“
=
LEGEND:
RAILROAD, ——+—+_-
SurfaceBus;s—— - —
Subway
EAeR Ess-
way
o
fe
Note: Sugwky To Be SURFACE Buses
UNTIL (SUBWAY JS COMPLETED,
This sketch illustrates the suggestions made in Norman
Stambaugh’s article, “Rapid Transit Now—Another Look.”
March, 1969
Cont
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THE GEORGIA ENGINEER
Another Look at
Rapid Transit— Con’t.
but from farther out, as expansion needs
eall for.
There are reasons why this is very good.
If no more is provided than MARTA has
proposed, nothing more than a glut of high
rise apartments will develop, and the chance
for home ownership, on a decent plot of land
will disappear. If industry is served by
MARTA’s proposed transit, residential areas
must disappear and then the city will be-
come less and less useful.
On the other hand, if rapid transit is
provided from the smaller satellite cities,
then family living in healthful open space
is possible, where schools, community cen-
ters, and typical American living is possi-
ble. Also, along these railroads are the
logical industrial sites, and with rapid tran-
sit provided from the population centers,
workers can reach their job without the
nerve racking traffic problems now faced
by all who work in large plants.
This is but a rough generalization of
what I am proposing. But, you say, even
“MARTA” planned to make use of the rail-
roads, where are you so different ?
Specifically, I am proposing what has
been done in Philadelphia and what is being
proposed in the Cincinnati, Dayton area, and
in others recently heard from—that is let
the railroads, who have the vital right-of-
way, know how, track building equipment,
and trained crew handle the development
and operations of the rapid transit facili-
ties. But you say, “You just said the rail-
roads want no part of it.’ That was back
in 1952, and today, if they would not have
to invest their capital to do this job, but be
subsidized to the extent that they could
derive reasonable income on their invest-
ment, they would.
This is the erux. I propose that the State
— possibly through the Highway Depart-
ment — subsidize the capital improvements
needed and guarantee the annual reasonable
income for this. It is believed by some that
this would be far cheaper than to acquire
the right-of-way, equipment, and operation
of the proposed project that MARTA
planned. In fact, it is considered possible
March, 1969
that the interest on the bonds that would
be required by MARTA would care for the
subsidy. Why should the State pick up this
tab? Because it will help the entire State.
It will mean everything to the satellite
cities. It will also mean that instead of the
State having to build extra expressways,
the rapid transit will reduce the growing
load on the expressways and eliminate some
new ones. Of course, something would have
to be worked out to provide these funds to
the Highway. Some suggestions are that
the Federal Government might make grants
to cover capital costs, such as it is doing
_for the Airports and trucking industry.
When the actual interurban rapid tran-
sit is taken care of by the railroads, who
are most qualified, and with fewer private
vehicles on the street, the present city tran-
sit system should be revamped to provide
better routes out from the rapid transit
stops, and avoid lines converging into the
downtown area as now. The city-transit
should also remain in the hands of its pri-
vate operating company; but to maintain
low cost transportation it will be necessary
for both Rapid Transit, and street transit
to be subsidized. However, low fares alone
will not make the overall transit system
work—other vital ingredients will be neces-
sary, such as conveniences, speed, parking,
and access roads must be provided to get to
the stop. It means that modern electronic
safety and schedule control must be pro-
vided.
Best of all, this could start taking place
this year if the legislature could act, and
the working arrangements be set up, where-
as if we wait for MARTA, perhaps Atlanta
will be so fouled up that it will not matter
anyhow.
I for one want a Rapid Transit, but to
be Regional, and not MARTA. I was glad
the Governor scotched the MARTA plan. I
have reason to believe he will go for this
Regional Plan. The State can participate
on a regional plan, but would find it hard
to go along on MARTA.
I hope I have been able to start some-
thing—that more able politicians, and en-
gineers take this up and put it over. It is
what we need. It will do the trick and can
be done decades before anything else could.
27