Atlanta, say hello to transit-oriented soccer.
It's the latest move by MARTA to try to boost street life around its stations. The organization is working with nonprofit Soccer in the Streets to construct what it’s billing the first soccer field ever built inside transit facility.
The pitch, measuring about 66 by 99 feet (smaller than a regulation-sized soccer field), will be housed on the top floor of Five Points Station, in downtown Atlanta.
MARTA’s Amanda Rhein says Five Points is like a lot of MARTA stations, in that it contains spaces like this floor that have long stood vacant.
“These spaces were incorporated into the station to provide for a community use there, but they never really have been used as they were originally intended,” Rhein says.
Youth outreach nonprofit Soccer in the Streets, which is responsible for constructing and maintaining the field, plans to hold youth and adult matches there starting this fall.
If the five-year pilot is a success, MARTA plans to create similar programs at other stations.
Posts
