Peachtree Center (MARTA station)

Infobox Station
name=Peachtree Center
type=MARTA rapid transit station
logo=marta.gif
logo_size=

---

image_size=300
image_caption=
address=216 Peachtree Street NE
Atlanta, GA 30303
line=rail color box|system=MARTA|line=North-South rail color box|system=MARTA|line=Northeast-South
other=CCT, GCT, GRTA
platform=Island Platform
tracks=2
structure=Underground
coordinates=coord|33.749161|-84.394591
parking=
bicycle=
passengers=7,900 (daily) [ [http://www.itsmarta.com/newsroom/martafacts.htm MARTA facts] ]
pass_year=2007
pass_percent=0
opened=September 11, 1982
rebuilt=
ADA=Yes
code=N1
owned=
zone=
services=s-rail|title=MARTA

Peachtree Center station is the deepest station in the MARTA rail system, at 120 feet or 36 meters below Peachtree Street. It serves the Peachtree Center area of downtown Atlanta, and is the first station north-northeast of the rail system hub at Five Points. This is the fifth-busiest station in the MARTA system, handling an average of 17,800 boardings per weekday and as of April 2006, 7,155 daily fares were collected at the gates.

The station has an island platform serving two tracks. The floor is made of gray tile, the "walls" are made of solid gneiss rock, and the ceiling panels are made of steel. Four escalator banks are used to access the station, with the Carnegie Way/Ellis Street (southwest) entrance having the longest escalators in the system, which MARTA claims are also the longest in the Southeast U.S. [ [http://www.itsmarta.com/newsroom/martafacts.htm MARTA facts] ] . The Harris Street (northwest) entrance has a map of the MARTA system with proposed lines on it. The station was featured in the 1985 movie "The Heavenly Kid".

Attractions

*Peachtree Center
*Central Library
*Hard Rock Cafe
*American Cancer Society Center (formerly Inforum)
*Georgia Aquarium
*Centennial Olympic Park
*Woodruff Park
*Rialto Center for the Performing Arts
*Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel

Connection to other transit systems

*Cobb Community Transit
*Gwinnett County Transit
*Georgia Regional Transportation Authority

Construction

Although the operation of the North Line began between the Garnett and North Avenue stations on December 4, 1981, the Peachtree Center station between them did not open until September 11, 1982. A poster dating to 1982 on the station platform describes how the station was built. The poster reads:

:"MARTA's moving Atlanta, 120 feet below Peachtree Street."

:"The Peachtree Center station was built by tunneling through solid gneiss, a grainitelike rock formed of layers of quartz and mica. This rock provides underground support for the station. Soft ground or mixed tunneling was used where there was insufficient rock structure for underground support. With this method, compressed air twice the normal atmospheric pressure was used to support the walls while permanent structures were being built. Like deep sea divers, workers on this section of the rapid rail transit system were required to undergo 30 minutes of compression/decompression when entering or coming out of the tunnel. This station is only one of a few tunnels in the world where the walls and the ceiling were carved from solid rock."

:"Length of longest escalator serving the station entrance across from the Atlanta Public Library is 190 feet- the longest in the southeast. Cost of Station: approx. $45 million. Station depth: 120 feet. Station length: 900 feet."

Gallery

ee also

*Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority

References

* [http://itsmarta.com/getthere/stations/peachtree.htm MARTA station page]
* [http://world.nycsubway.org/us/atlanta/ nycsubway.org Atlanta page]