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The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) has been a big-time job creator and economic growth engine in the state of Georgia, as well as metropolitan Atlanta — and it'll continue to be during the next five decades, according to a study released yesterday by the University of Georgia's Carl Vinson Institute of Government.

Using the Georgia Economic Modeling System, the institute considered the net economic impact of the region's investment into MARTA employment, infrastructure and operation with a focus on the 28 counties of the Atlanta Metropolitan Statistical Area. MARTA continues to have a "significant, positive and increasing impact on the state and regional economy," the study concludes.

Specific findings include:

• MARTA contributed $2 billion in the region and $2.1 billion in the state in total output of goods and services in 2001. MARTA's contribution to total output will grow to $10.3 billion in the region and $10.5 billion in the state by 2055 — more than double the total forecasted output of the forestry and timber industry in Georgia, the study found.

• MARTA helped create 19,600 jobs in the region in 2001, which equates to slightly more than the size of the regional food manufacturing industry.

• MARTA is expected to create 45,500 jobs by 2055 — the equivalent of the forecasted size of the region's hotel industry.

• Region residents receive a direct economic benefit that is "significantly greater" than the sales tax payments made to fund the system — thanks to MARTA, per capita personal income was $52 greater than it would have been, the study concluded. That impact is expected to be $237 by 2055.