Christopher Leinberger, a leading expert in transportation policy and urban development, will discuss transportation opportunities for Atlanta and Georgia on Wednesday.

There are two opportunities to participate in this very important conversation:

• Wednesday at 11 a.m. at Centennial Tower, 101 Marietta Street, 26th floor, Atlanta

• Wednesday, 3 p.m., at the Marriott City Center, 240 Coliseum Drive, Macon.

Leinberger, a visiting fellow with the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution, will explore the role of transit investments in the Atlanta market, the most successful national strategies and trends that are making communities vibrant and competitive.

“Atlanta’s legendary transportation and real estate issues must be addressed with creative solutions that are a feature of demographic shifts and global trends in technology and changing lifestyles,” said Leinberger, a visiting fellow with the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution. Georgia is poised to engage with these issues in a new way with the emerging Transportation SPLOST projects being considered across the state by the Regional Roundtables.

Wednesday’s forum in Atlanta also features Ray Christman of the Livable Communities Coalition and Fair Share for Transit. Event sponsors include Georgians for Passenger Rail, the Georgia Cities Foundation, the Georgia Municipal Association and Central Atlanta Progress.

About Leinberger: Considered one of the nation’s top urban thinkers and land use strategists, Leinberger is an author, developer and real estate consultant. He serves as president of Locus, a national coalition of real estate developers and investors that believes transportation drives development and advocates for sustainable, walkable development in towns and cities. Leinberger and colleague Cris Coes of Locus and Smart Growth America advance the concept that transportation drives development, especially economic development and that these public investments must be planned and built for needs and trends in our future rather than fixing problems of the past.

After four studies, including an extensive economic analysis by the Brookings Institution in 2010, statewide stakeholders have devised a multi-year, multi-use, integrated rail plan that hinges on two major developments: the Atlanta Downtown Multi-Modal Passenger Terminal and the Atlanta-to-Macon passenger rail line.

As the work progresses to determine the final list of transportation projects to be considered by voters next year, these two projects are particularly critical to Georgia’s economic development.

First, the Atlanta Downtown Multi-Modal Passenger Terminal (MMPT) is envisioned to be the region’s premier public transportation passenger terminal, with facilities for existing heavy rail and other new passenger rail services, as well as bus services that include: intercity, regional express, Xpress, Cobb County, Gwinnett County and local bus and paratransit services. In addition, the MMPT is expected to be a catalyst for future streetcar and regional light-rail lines.

It is anticipated that this project will transform central Atlanta much like Union Station has revitalized Washington, DC. The MMPT will be the glue that will connect our universities, tourist destinations and employment centers. It also has the ability to obtain the most leverage for federal transportation dollars and will link the Beltline, street cars and MARTA.

The MMPT will also connect what many consider an integral proposed component – a 103-mile Atlanta-to-Macon rail line. The two metropolitan areas linked by this proposed passenger rail line account for 57 percent of the population of the state, 60 percent of the jobs and 70 percent of the state’s gross domestic product.

In addition to the downtown connection, the line will also provide direct connections to Georgia’s largest employment center – Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport through a rail connection at Aerotropolis, the multi-use development under construction in Hapeville that is expected to create an additional 10,000 jobs for marquis corporate tenants.

The Brookings Study proposes seven stations: Atlanta MMPT, Hapeville, Morrow, Hampton, Griffin, Forsyth and Macon. Additional input also recommends a station in Barnesville. Construction would begin 2016 and the line would be operational by 2018.

While additional study is necessary to determine the best operation, current thinking estimates 12 weekday round trips along this line. The new stations will spur commercial and residential development, creating jobs and bedroom communities in all cities south of Atlanta. Most importantly this rail investment will create a growth and economic stimulus into the center of our state where it is most needed.

In recent years, the south side of the metropolitan area has experienced lower growth than the north; in particular there has been little growth in regionally significant employment concentrations. However, since 2000, growth on the south side has seen a slight upturn, with areas south of I-20 accounting for 41 percent of the region’s growth, though most of that growth was residential and locally serving commercial.

Not investing in rail transit today is analogous to not investing in the highway system in the ’60s and ’70s. If our state does not provide transportation choices for current and future residents, business and individuals will go to metropolitan areas that do.