Two years after MARTA announced they were adding a second elevator at one of its train stations, the transit system has made good on its promise.
Oakland City MARTA station now has a second elevator on the Murphy Street side of its location in southwest Atlanta, MARTA officials announced. For the past 35 years, the train station had only one elevator for riders.
When MARTA built the Oakland City station in 1984, officials installed a shaft with plans for an elevator, but those plans hadn’t come into fruition.
“The use of the station has grown, and the area around the station looks different than it did 30 years ago,” MARTA CEO Jeffrey Parker said in an emailed statement. “The completion of the elevator is both a milestone in our progress and another symbol of our commitment to responding to our customers.”
MARTA officials held a ribbon cutting for the elevator at 2 p.m. Friday.
RELATED: 33 years later, MARTA station to get second elevator
The Oakland City station has always had an operable elevator. It is accessible through the main entrance. MARTA spokeswoman Stephany Fisher said the station has close to 3,500 daily train riders and has one of the busiest bus routes, Route 83, along Campbellton Road. The route has about 4,500 riders daily.
In December 2017, MARTA announced it would install the second elevator after residents complained they weren’t able to easily access the train platform. The area’s new senior community, Gateway Capitol View, also influenced the decision.
The elevator was expected to be installed by summer 2018, but Fisher said the transit system’s elevator and escalator upgrade and maintenance program at the time didn’t include new installations.
Work on the $1.1 million project began in mid-July, Fisher said. The cost includes installations, surveillance video, fire protection and MARTA employees to oversee the project.
Funding for the new elevator came from the MARTA Capital Improvement Fund, which is funded by sales tax revenue.
MARTA has pumped nearly $2.8 million in upgrades at Oakland City Station, including the newly installed elevator and work on one of the station’s escalators, Fisher said. Work on another escalator at the station is expected to be completed Nov. 1. Additional improvements to the train station also include heated shelters for customers on the train platform, Fisher said.
Upgrades at Oakland City Station are part of MARTA’s $210 million investment to improving access to its 38 rail stations over the next several years. The transit system also received a $20 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration to refurbish elevators and escalators.
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