MARTA train rail at dusk.
In the 1950s planners recognized the importance of public transportation – including a new rail system – to the growth of Atlanta and the region. In the 1960s regional planners and transit experts focused on proposals for rapid transit systems, highlighted by a Metropolitan Atlanta Transit Study Commission report recommending a 66-mile, five-county rail system with feeder bus operation and park-and-ride facilities. Action shifted to the legislative arena and by 1965 the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority Act was passed by the state legislature and subsequently approved in four counties and the City of Atlanta, creating MARTA.
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