Atlanta Transportation
View of a terminal in Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Airport via fisheye lens; credit Harrison Keely/Wiki Commons
Airport
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) has remained the busiest airport in the world since 1998. Today, this 8-terminal airport hosts 100 million passengers per year with flights to every large city in North America, plus many to Europe, Latin America, and Africa. ATL Airport is a major hub for Delta, Frontier, Southwest, and Spirit Airlines.
The airport has an astounding number of retail shops, dining & lounge options, a meditation room, business services, and artwork lovingly populate each terminal. To address modern demands, ATL has made several rounds of improvements to restrooms, WiFi, and electric charging stations.
ATL Airport partly honors the late Mayor Maynard Jackson, who pushed through expansion funding that enabled it to become a large Hub Airport and engine of economic growth.
Rapid Transit to Downtown
MARTA ATL Airport Station is inside the airport between baggage claim areas. MARTA runs Metro Heavy Rail-style trains every 6 minutes for the 20-mile ride to Downtown Atlanta. You can transfer to an east-west MARTA line or continue northbound to Midtown, Arts Center, Buckhead, and Dunwoody, or Northeast to Brookhaven-Oglethorpe and Doraville.
Taxis/Shuttles/Uber/Lyft
ATL Airport’s ground-level roadway hosts plentiful Taxis and Super Shuttles (800-258-3826). Clear signage also indicates where to obtain Uber and Lyft services.
Car Rentals
ATL Skytrain (Automated People Mover) service between Terminals and ATL Car Rental Center is fast and frequent. ATL Car Rental Center has a staggering 9,900 parking spaces and features Alamo, Avis, Budget, Enterprise, Hertz, National, and Thrifty brands.
There is clear signage to exit the ATL Car Rental Center onto the I-85 Freeway.
Train Station
Studies are advancing for the Southeast High-Speed Rail Corridor to the city. The $5 billion Centennial Yards Project plan will include a new train station serving the corridor. The new station will help unify access between the MARTA DOME-GWCC-PHILIPS ARENA-CNN Station, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, State Farm Arena, CNN Center, convention center, hotel, retail, residential, restaurants, and more offices in Downtown Atlanta.
Until the new station is built, travelers use the small neo-classic architecture Atlanta Penn Station with an old but refurbished waiting area. Atlanta Penn Station is located in Midtown Atlanta at 1688 Peachtree Street, NW. Biden funded an increase from 1 to 2 daily roundtrips for Amtrak Long-Distance routes. But there is only one such route serving Atlanta:
Crescent: NYC-Philadelphia-Baltimore-DC-Richmond-Raleigh-Charlotte-Greenville-Atlanta-New Orleans
Tours & Experiences
Atlanta Streetcar provides a convenient, inexpensive tour from downtown hotels to many Black Cultural attractions.
The route primarily uses Auburn Avenue and Edgewood Avenue to loop while stopping at Dobbs Plaza, King Historic District, Sweet Auburn Market, Woodruff Park, Centennial Olympic Park, The Skywheel, Peachtree Center, and smaller Downtown attractions.
Atlanta Streetcar gliding past Skywheel next to Centennial Olympic Park at night; (c) Atlanta CVB
The Streetcar runs from Monday through Sunday, 8:15 am-11:00 pm. The fare is $1 for a one-way trip or $3 for a one-day pass.
Rapid Transit
Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) is a modern Metro Rail System featuring 4 heavy rail lines (subway and elevated) radiating from Downtown to ATL Airport, several colleges, and entertainment centers.
Pre-pandemic, MARTA attracted over 235,000 weekday patrons to its 38 stations and 48 miles of track. Each day, MARTA operates 5 am-midnight with a 6-minute train frequency during Rush Hour and a 10-15 minute train frequency otherwise.
Exposed granite walls of MARTA Peachtree Station in Midtown Atlanta; credit CYunker/Wiki Commons
MARTA is replacing old trains with next-generation zero-emission trains, upgrading communication & fare payment systems, and better scheduling train-bus connections. The transit agency is also investing $1 billion to upgrade all 38 rail stations and will complete the Five Points Station project to create new aesthetics for a vibrant transit hub in the city center.
MARTA uses a fare card similar to Metro Heavy Rail systems worldwide, so it’s easy to purchase tickets. Stations are easy to navigate and ADA Accessible as well. In total, the MARTA passenger experience is improving year by year.
Highways
Get ready for a stress test on the Atlanta Freeway System. It has a “Wheel & Spoke” design featuring 3 freeways and 1 tollway that go to downtown Atlanta. Another freeway circles the metro area.
Each freeway is well-maintained with 8-12 lanes and well-designed intersections. On Sundays away from the ATL Airport, they can be an acceptable driving experience. Nevertheless, excessive Freeway System congestion is the result of suburban sprawl, multi-decade stalled MARTA expansion, and a lack of good Amtrak service between Atlanta, Birmingham, Nashville, and Charlotte.