Atlanta's Future: Plan 2040 (Savannah, Macon, Marietta: real estate, transfer, university)

[bu2]

Originally Posted by bryantm3

also, i'd like to note that this is the first time we're getting official word that the clifton corridor will indeed go all the way to avondale station through suburban plaza, and not end at north decatur.

I haven't looked at the links yet, but right now they are talking heavy rail (or light) to Emory and then light rail to Avondale. So is this any different?

[bu2]

Originally Posted by arjay57

What happened to our town's can do spirit? The spirit that brought us the only true subway system in this part of the country? Big league sports 20 years before any other city in the South? The most comprehensive interstate highway access, the greatest freight network and the tallest skyscrapers? The Olympics? The world's busiest airport?

Originally Posted by arjay57

My generation has done its best and I was hoping we could count on the younger generation to keep the ball rolling. But what I'm hearing sounds pretty defeatist. "It will take too long." "It's too hard." "Where will we get the money?"

I guess it's like mama used to say. Can't never could and won't never will.

Atlanta has a serious "Can't do" spirit with regards to transportation. There's been essentially nothing done since the Olympics. It reminds me of President Carter's constant talk of limits when he was president. That spirit fills Atlanta with regards to infrastructure issues (water issues as well). Georgia isn't alone in struggling with funding, but other places are finding ways to get it done. Look at North Carolina. Look at Texas. Just look at Dallas/Ft. Worth and their DART website for transit (they had no rail until 1996) and the North Texas Tollway Association website for toll roads (which is ONLY the local tolled highway projects and doesn't include any state projects).

DART.org - About DART

NTTA: Projects

[neil0311]

Originally Posted by bu2

Atlanta has a serious "Can't do" spirit with regards to transportation. There's been essentially nothing done since the Olympics. It reminds me of President Carter's constant talk of limits when he was president. That spirit fills Atlanta with regards to infrastructure issues (water issues as well). Georgia isn't alone in struggling with funding, but other places are finding ways to get it done.

I keep hearing this, but in fact, it's just not true. MARTA is the most comprehensive transit system outside of the northeast, Chicago, or San Francisco. People bring up Charlotte, Dallas, LA, etc, but those are tiny systems by comparison and don't really compare.

Atlanta is not NYC or Chicago, that's true, but has a pretty decent transportation system (transit and highways) for a city of its size.

[cqholt]

Atlanta is not NYC or Chicago, that's true, but has a pretty decent transportation system (transit and highways) for a city of its size.

Its more comparable to Washington's METRO or Boston. The cities above run 24-hour systems. Atlanta is not dense enough for that.

[architect77]

I've given up on Atlanta ever getting serious about improving/expanding its roads. MARTA is the crown jewel of the city. No other sunbelt city will ever be able to afford to build heavy rail. We should treasure it.
But, as years turn into decades with nothing being built in North Georgia...

North Carolina recently pondered how it would pay for totally rebuilding I-95 through the state (used mostly by out-of-staters), came up with a plan, and today just got federal approval to start tolling drivers to pay for the project.

In just a few months, NC can implement a plan and commence building a solution. They will soon be charging up to $19.20 to travel the full length of I-95. We'll probably witness its completion before a darn thing is done here in Georgia.

[Newsboy]

^^^ UH ... WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? You do realize that the ENTIRE LENGTH of 95 in Georgia is at least SIX LANES, and the highly congested stretch thru Glynn County was recently expanded to EIGHT LANES with a concrete-wall median! The drive thru Brunswick feels like an urban inner-city interstate! Next up is a project to do the same thing -- expansion from 6 to 8 (and in some places 10) lanes for all of I-95 in Chatham County, from the Bryan County line north to the SC state line. If the transportation sales tax is passed, it may also include a redesign of the dangerous 95/16 cloverleaf into a stacked flyover and the complete reconstruction and widening of all of I~16 and 516 in the city of Savannah, which hasnt had an upgrade since it was opened in the 1960s. All this is very similar to what was recently completed on I-20 and 520 in Augusta, and what is currently underway along I-75 in Macon,

METRO ATLANTA DOES NOT HAVE THE ONLY HIGHWAY NEEDS IN THIS STATE -- AND THE GA DOT IS MEETING THESE NEEDS!

[arjay57]

In my opinion the Atlanta region has basically "muddled through" for the last couple of decades and it has done some things well.

However, that's not good enough to keep us a top 10 or even a top 20 city. We need a breakout mentality like we had when we built MARTA, brought in big league sports, went after the Olympics, and built the tallest buildings outside of New York and Chicago. Those are all things people said we couldn't do.

We need big bold proposals and the action to back them up.

Otherwise, I'll guarantee we're headed for second class status. If we don't step up, there is no question that somebody else will.

[Newsboy]

ARJAY -- I don't remember anybody ever saying Atlanta couldn't do any of those things ... except Atlantans. Most of the country still doesn't know we have a subway or the tallest skyline outside NYC and Chicago, much less great colleges, affordable housing and a booming media industry that's turning Hollywood inside out. They just think we're a sprawling overgrown mess full of materialistic "new money" foul mouthed black people surrounded by miles and miles of redneck racist wasteland. Oh, and an airport.

Seriously, we're probably far better thought of outside this country than within. So be it. But if all this film and TV production keeps escalating at the pace it is that surely will change. Maybe we should change the name of the region to TYLER PERRY'S METRO ATLANTA!

[cityfilms]

Originally Posted by Newsboy

Most of the country.....They just think we're a sprawling overgrown mess full of materialistic "new money" foul mouthed black people surrounded by miles and miles of redneck racist wasteland. Oh, and an airport.

I lived in Atlanta for 8 years and that's EXACTLY what I think.

But if all this film and TV production keeps escalating at the pace it is that surely will change. Maybe we should change the name of the region to TYLER PERRY'S METRO ATLANTA!

Tyler Perry exploits "black people" and makes them all out as stereotypes. Most people actually from Africa are insulted by his films.

What the rest of the country (and world) sees is the "Atlanta-superficiality" where you think a man's great because he has loads of money. YOu don't have the brains to analyze his art for what it is.

[bryantm3]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Its more comparable to Washington's METRO or Boston. The cities above run 24-hour systems. Atlanta is not dense enough for that.

not dense enough for 24 hour service? if we had 24 hour train service we'd save hundreds of lives from drunk drivers, to start with.