GCRTA East 79th Street Light Rail Station

A rejuvenated accessible community centered transit station

The East 79th Street Light Rail Station is located on East 79th Street, south of Opportunity Corridor, and serves GCRTA’s light rail trains. The current station dates back to the 1980’s but has been around as a rail platform for decades prior to that.

The primary goal of the E.79th Street Light Rail Reconstruction Project is to bring the station into compliance with the most current ADA standards and codes. The new station design will also focus on Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) practices to allow all passengers to feel safe and secure as they move about the station to utility public transit. Clear view corridors and multiple points of entry will help in this effort.

The main entrance to the station will be directly off East 79th Street, just south of the existing GCRTA bridge, and just north of Hillside Road. The new entrance point will be what we are calling the ‘headhouse’, which will serve as both an entry to the station, as well as a waiting area for buses. The platforms can also be accessed directly from the existing pathways in Hillside Park.

Aesthetically, the design intent is to create a new station that doesn’t overpower the park and the hillside, but rather, becomes integrated into the hillside, and becomes an extension of the park. The design is meant to be subtle, light and intuitive, yet ultimately satisfying the main intent which is to provide a new, exciting, ADA compliant station that is well lit, safe, and becomes an important factor in helping to revitalize the surrounding neighborhood.