High-speed rail public meetings coming up

Transportation officials in Georgia have completed enough research and analysis of a Chattanooga-to-Atlanta high-speed rail line to unveil some of their plans to the public.

Beginning Thursday, the Georgia Department of Transportation will host public information meetings in Chattanooga, Dalton and Atlanta over the next two weeks.

Alan Ware, the rail planner for GDOT, said officials would discuss a "high-level study" looking at potential routes and stops on a long-discussed line that would connect the Scenic City to Atlanta.

"It's more of an open house so folks can find out what's going on," Ware said.

The series will start Thursday in Chattanooga with a meeting at the Regional Planning Agency on Market Street, and that will be followed on Nov. 8 with a meeting at Dalton State College.

Jill Goldberg, GDOT deputy press secretary, said the meetings will serve two purposes: helping the transportation department get information out to residents and giving the public a chance to comment.

"We're not going to just sit you in a room and make you listen," Goldberg said. "There are many ways for them to put in their comments."

The department eventually will have meetings for proposed rail lines between Atlanta and Macon and between Atlanta and Athens, but the Chattanooga line is "a little bit further along right now," she said.

Goldberg and Ware both said the meetings were a sign of progress.

"It's moving forward," Ware said. "How far and how fast, I can't say."


INFORMATION MEETINGS

Chattanooga

6-8 p.m. Thursday

Regional Planning Agency, Room 1A, 1250 Market St.

Dalton

6-8 p.m. Monday, Nov. 8

Dalton State College, James Brown Center, Room 105, 650 College Drive

Atlanta

6-8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 9

Saint Mark United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall, 718 Peachtree St. NE

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