Transportation
Atlanta’s Big Transit Vote Is a Referendum on Race
As suburban Gwinnett County weighs a MARTA expansion, changing demographics and politics may decide the Georgia capital's transportation future.
Update, 3/20/19: Voters rejected a much-anticipated referendum to expand Atlanta’s public transit system into Gwinnett County in Tuesday’s special election.
On March 19, voters in Gwinnett County, to the northeast of Atlanta, will decide on whether to approve a possible rail extension and a lot of better bus routes. If it’s successful, the transit referendum in Georgia’s second-largest county would make history—not only by connecting the sprawling suburban area to Atlanta’s regional transit system for the first time, but also signaling a possible shift in the metro’s divisive racial politics.