By Atlanta News First staff

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) — The locations for four new Atlanta MARTA rail stations have been announced.

The stations will be located at Krog Street/Hulsey Yard, Joseph E. Boone, Armour Yards and Murphy Crossing. These are all along existing rail lines. The city will partner with MARTA to construct the stations.

“I think they’re wonderful locations that could actually begin to tie people to much needed development and also tie people to amenities as well,” said Byron Amos, the Chair for the Transportation Committee for Atlanta’s City Council.

“I think it would definitely bring more foot traffic to my end of the Beltline,” said George Drake, who owns Yay Beignet on Krog Street.

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens had originally announced the new stations during his annual State of the City address.

“Access to everyone in the city of Atlanta to a quality transportation system is what we are after,” said Amos.

At the time, Dickens said one of the stations would be located at Murphy Crossing, a redevelopment project along the BeltLine’s Westside Trail.

The mayor said the station at Murphy Crossing will not only bring more rail access to the southwest Atlanta community, but also connect MARTA rail to the BeltLine for the first time.

“We must build a transportation system that is accessible to residents across the entire city,” Dickens said. “Our current MARTA rail system is underutilized in part because we don’t have enough stations located where residents need it the most.”

Dickens’ administrative order also identifies a corridor for a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line to connect the redeveloped Bowen Homes community with Ponce City Market, calls for developing design and financing plans for the new rail stations, and calls for “community engagement efforts to ensure the design of the infill stations are accessible and appropriate for their respective neighborhoods.”

It also calls for MARTA, the Atlanta BeltLine, and city staff “to begin developing a plan for transit options on the entirety” of the BeltLine corridor.

In a statement Thursday, a MARTA spokesperson said: “The establishment of infill stations at key nodes along the Atlanta BeltLine holds great potential to maximize MARTA’s rail system to bring mobility and accessibility to a wider population while fostering future growth and prosperity.”

The spokesperson said MARTA will “explore all funding opportunities through local, state, and federal partners, as well as transit-oriented development support” to pay for the stations.

As far as when the stations will be built, the spokesperson said it’s “too early for discussions about construction schedules or timelines.”

“These stations may happen. In your lifetime. But they won’t happen within…easily the next…optimistically, they may happen in the next 15 to 20 years,” said Matt Garbett, with Thread ATL, a non-profit that advocates for “good urbanism.”

Decaturish media partner Atlanta News First provided this story.