Peachtree Center station

Peachtree Center
MARTA rapid transit station
Location	216 Peachtree Street NE Atlanta, GA 30303
Coordinates
Line(s)
Platforms	1 island platform
Tracks	2
Connections	Atlanta Streetcar, CCT, GCT, GRTA
Construction
Structure type	Underground
Parking	None
Bicycle facilities	5 bike racks
Disabled access	Yes
Architect	Toombs, Amisano and Wells
Other information
Station code	N1
History
Opened	September 11, 1982
Traffic
Passengers (2013)	7,453  6%
Services
Preceding station   MARTA   Following station Five Points toward Airport Red Line Civic Center toward North Springs Gold Line Civic Center toward Doraville

Peachtree Center is an underground train station on the Red and Gold lines of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) rail system. It is the deepest station in the MARTA rail system, at 120 feet (37 m) below Peachtree Street. It serves the Peachtree Center neighborhood of downtown Atlanta, and is the first station north-northeast of the rail system hub at Five Points. Peachtree Center is one of the busiest stations on the Red/Gold Lines, handling over 15,000 people per weekday.

Station layout

G	Street Level	Entrance/Exit
M	Mezzanine	Fare barriers
P Platform level	Southbound	← Gold Line toward Airport (Five Points) ← Red Line toward Airport (Five Points)
	Island platform, doors will open on the left
	Northbound	→ Gold Line toward Doraville (Civic Center) → → Red Line toward North Springs (Civic Center) →

Interior design

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.. The freestanding escalator at the CNN Center is longer at 205 feet. The Ellis Street entrance was closed for more than two years for renovation. It re-opened on August 24, 2012. 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.

Nearby landmarks and popular destinations

• Peachtree Center/Peachtree Center Business District
• Mall at Peachtree Center
• Central Library
• Atlanta Streetcar
• Hard Rock Cafe
• American Cancer Society Center (formerly Inforum)
• Georgia Aquarium
• World of Coca-Cola
• Centennial Olympic Park
• Center for Civil and Human Rights
• College Football Hall of Fame
• Woodruff Park
• Rialto Center for the Performing Arts
• Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel
• Atlanta Marriott Marquis Hotel
• SAE Institute
• Various downtown Atlanta hotels

Bus routes

The station is served by the following MARTA bus routes:

• Route 110 - Peachtree Street / "The Peach"

Connection to other transit systems

• Atlanta Streetcar
• 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 granite like 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.

An exploratory tunnel was initially driven at the crown of the tunnel to provide input into rock quality. This gave the designer excellent information to finish the design. The cavern was constructed using a heading and bench approach, first excavating the heading and following with the bench excavation. All excavation on the cavern was accomplished using drill and blast methods. Vibration monitoring stations were established in buildings along Peachtree Street to monitor the vibrations and compare to contract limits.

External links

• MARTA Station Page
• nycsubway.org Atlanta page
• Carnegie Way entrance from Google Maps Street View