Councilman: MLK relocation would cost $25M-$40M

ATLANTA — Channel 2 consumer investigator Jim Strickland has learned the first preliminary cost estimate for relocating Martin Luther King Jr. Drive to make room for a new stadium.               
         
Strickland first broke news two weeks ago that the MARTA tracks running beneath the Georgia Dome's ticket windows would force a new south side stadium even further south, necessitating the relocation of the road.
         
"According to the work they've done, on the low end, it's going to be $25 million and on the high end, about $40 million," said Utility Committee Chairman Howard Shook. 
         
Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank is pledging to pay the first $50 million.  Shook wants a more firm estimate of what's involved, suggesting they "bring in an independent third party, a company that really knows what it's doing to give as a detailed assessment."
         
Shook said they will have to relocate several utilities as well. An alternative site to the north of the Dome also has big power lines, but a state consultant said fitting a stadium there is less complicated.

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