I-85 HOT Lanes in Gwinnett... Your Opinion? (Atlanta: fit in, neighborhoods) - Georgia (GA) - Page 7 - City-Data Forum

tonygeorgia · 10-11-2011, 09:54 PM

Petition Citizens Against The Georgia Peach Pass

papilgee4evaeva · 10-11-2011, 10:22 PM

OK, so I'm just now seeing about the HOT lanes.

I for one think it's a decent enough concept, but the execution was horrible. Like others have mentioned, either separate the lanes with barriers or don't bother.

I also don't think it's that bad as far as the cost... especially after paying $2-$5 to cross a bridge in Maryland or up to $10 in NYC... a bridge, mind you, not a miles-long freeway.

But what I'm gathering, this program might just get added to GDOT's list of screw-ups, right after non-controlled-access 316.

tonygeorgia · 10-12-2011, 03:41 AM

Lol at the people who dont drive this portion of 85 saying it isn't that big of a deal

papilgee4evaeva · 10-12-2011, 07:28 AM

Tolling freeways - not a big deal. Especially the rates that they had imposed.

GDOT's implementation of the tolls on a freeway not built for such separation - horrible.

arjay57 · 10-12-2011, 07:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tonygeorgia

Lol at the people who dont drive this portion of 85 saying it isn't that big of a deal

For us it's not. We do have the option now to hop in the HOT lane if we do happen to be out that way, which is nice.

mike7586 · 10-12-2011, 03:59 PM

Looks like traffic is slowly getting back to normal on I-85. There are going to be good traffic days and bad days, just like before... and sometimes it has to do with the weather (rain) and accidents... although I'm sure people will still blame the HOT lane. It's only been A WEEK AND HALF in operation and it will take time for traffic to sort itself back out and people to get used to them... and looking at traffic cams it looks like more people are starting to use them. I'm amazed at how many people were expecting to see IMMEDIATE results the minute it opened too.

tonygeorgia · 10-12-2011, 05:33 PM

Bravo Bravo Bravo!

Gwinnett | Formal request made for free tolls for carpoolers

tonygeorgia · 10-12-2011, 05:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike7586

Looks like traffic is slowly getting back to normal on I-85. There are going to be good traffic days and bad days, just like before... and sometimes it has to do with the weather (rain) and accidents... although I'm sure people will still blame the HOT lane. It's only been A WEEK AND HALF in operation and it will take time for traffic to sort itself back out and people to get used to them... and looking at traffic cams it looks like more people are starting to use them. I'm amazed at how many people were expecting to see IMMEDIATE results the minute it opened too.

It's not getting back to normal. Motorist are having to wake up 35+ mins earlier because they have to use an alternative route because of all the traffic.

arjay57 · 10-12-2011, 05:55 PM

Glad to see they are working the kinks out. This will be a good project for Gwinnett in the long run.

cwkimbro · 10-12-2011, 07:12 PM

Well they probably won't get perimission for 2 person carpools and they shouldn't. The problem is the HOV lane with 2 person carpools was already congested at peak hours sometimes.

The whole purpose of managed lanes it to make it so the lane is almost always flowing freely at a speed in which the maximum amount of cars can travel in the lane in a given hour. If a lane gets too congested... it carries fewer cars per hour. Managed Lanes is suppose to prevent that...adding peak hour capacity.

The toll isn't to generate money or completely pay for the project, but merely be a mechanism to get the right amount of cars to use the lane at one time.

What they really need to do is drastically lower the toll starting out and entice more people to get a Peach Pass and learn to use the lane. Once they use it, then they can raise it to the price of keeping it flowing the maximum amount, but uncongested.

The problem this past week was really simple... it wasn't that we started a HOT lane. It is simply no one is starting to use it yet. Once more cars use it, there will be fewer cars in the other lanes.

Outside that... the big kink I see that needs to be fixed is a Sugarload Pkwy exit. When I looked at the planning documents initially I thought they were making one, but it turns out it was only for the 316/85 interchange. Sugar loaf is the biggest arterial road in the area and the area with the highest xpress bus and van pool ridership. Those xpress buses and vanpools, if no one else, need immediate access to the HOT lane. That is kind of part of the point of all this.