Mara Shalhoup writes in last week’s CL that the Atlanta Streetcar’s momenteum is in full swing. The momenteum at this stage hardly means a thing, except that streetcar opponents and quibblers are quietly discussing their strategies to show that the momenteum is total bullshit.

I’m in support of the project, though I have only one thing I would change. But in any case, here is part one of my guide to the criticisms I’ve heard… and my responses.

Critic: The streetcar will provide service that is redundant with MARTA’s existing rail service.

There are two parts to this argument that are worth discussing:

1. redundancy is bad in a transportation system, and
2. the streetcar service is entirely redundant with MARTA’s existing rail service.

On the first point, redundancy in a transportation system can also be characterized as connectivity. Whether discussing a street grid with short blocks or Manhattan’s North-South subway lines, these “redundant” systems have several advantages over the typical DOT layout:

• They allow commuters choices of which modes and ways they want to travel.
• They spread traffic across the network, which reduces congestion
• They cost less per taxpayer to build and operate because fewer lane miles are needed to serve the same population
• They are safer than the typical DOT layout — and they become safer as population and employment densities rise.
• They are easier to navigate by car or bike, or on foot.

There is more I could add to the list, but I hope you get my point here. A connected street grid, with multiple modal options, carries many benefits for a relatively low cost — especially when compared to a disconnected DOT-style layout (usually referred to as a street hierarchy). As densities within the connected grid rise, so do the benefits.

On the second point, the critics are not entirely correct. Peachtree Street and the MARTA rail line do not always run parallel to one another. North of 17th Street, the MARTA rail line veers off to Lindbergh, leaving a 4.5-mile stretch of Peachtree with no rail service — and that’s just between 17th Street and GA-400. Even when they do run parallel to one another, MARTA stations are rarely within a convenient walking distance to Peachtree Street. Far from being “redundant” in the way the critics imply, the streetcar closes a long-existing gap in rail service.

There are also differences between the streetcar and MARTA’s heavy rail system that make them compatible as parallel routes. The heavy rail system travels faster (it reaches up to 35 mph along the trunk between Arts Center and Garnett). The streetcar is meant to be used for travelling shorter distances than what is normally convenient on MARTA’s rail system. While it’s generally inconvenient to go one stop along the trunk (for example, Five Points to Peachtree Center), it would serve the pedestrian quite well to use a streetcar to travel that distance. The streetcar serves as a pedestrian accelerator in a way that the exiting MARTA rail system cannot.

For anyone wishing for Atlanta to be a more connected city, the “redundancy” criticism is worse than wrong. It is dangerously counter-productive.