On the East Coast, stellar public transportation has always been a key priority for city officials. Of course, with such a densely packed region, getting people in, out, and around the region must be a top responsibility. Though these regions are built to withstand large flows of city-goers, what happens when this flow of people outpaces the cities' growth of infrastructure?

A key example of this phenomenon is in Atlanta. Atlanta originally was created as a terminus point for a Georgia railroad system. In the current age, as Atlanta has turned into an urban mecca, Atlanta's population has grown more than the city has expanded. This is due in part to the cultural and economic boom in Atlanta since the late-90’s. While Atlanta has a stable public transportation system, the city itself is not built to withstand large urban movements. 

According to INRIX, Atlanta is the 10th worst for traffic congestion. This congestion coupled with the city's heavy urban sprawl, will not only cripple the expansion of public transportation, but communities as well. According to Toby Injury Law, “The 53 hours that the average Atlanta driver loses to congestion each year cost them each $820.”

Atlanta is a car dependent city, yet it is becoming unaffordable to own a car in the city. As a city with a high poverty rate of 21%, Atlanta's lower class can barely afford to actually exist in the city. People cannot thrive there , but they cannot escape it either.

Though it's blatantly clear that the public transportation system needs to be reformed, there's an underlying national issue that limits it: electricity. There is a national inability to sustain electrical infrastructure and its expansion. In a WSJ study, it was said that incidences of prolonged blackouts have doubled since 2013. Many blame this on how climate change has strengthened the severity of national disasters, however there's more to it. Not only are there more threats to electrical grids, but it's also becoming increasingly hard to repair and sustain these electrical grids. 

With so many people flocking to southern urban centers, it's increasingly impossible to maintain such a chaotic infrastructure. If we try to majorly expand the subway system, we’ll soon find that there's no room for a subway. 

We can bring this into a local perspective with Louisville. Louisville has made major plans for the light rail, and stands as a positive example of how public transportation can benefit a chaotic space. The difference between Atlanta and Louisville is that Louisville does not attempt to cut through the blockade of drivers. Louisville uses unused space to siphon the foot traffic across the city. 

If we simply made Atlanta’s traffic flow towards stagnant areas, we'd allow the subways to stem adjacently from these stagnant areas, and cut through the middle of Atlanta's traffic. As a visual aid, imagine the congestion of Atlanta like a horizontal rectangle. If we shifted the flow of traffic to congest towards the corners of the city, the rectangle would flip vertically, allowing public transportation to cut through the middle of the city.

If we desire change in our public transportation, then we have to change how cities grow altogether. Possibly we may have to limit the actions of real estate developers, and further intensify some harsh zoning laws for the public. However it may be a necessary sacrifice to protect the future of urban neighborhoods.

Overall, the issue is not that cities lack public transportation, it's that we have promoted a system that makes it impossible for newer public transportation to benefit the city. Urban growth must start with a revamping of the system, not additional branches.