Atlanta Traffic: Beware! (Alpharetta, Lawrenceville, Duluth: limo, house, school)

[danmandr]

I try to avoid ATL if at all possible, but sometimes it is necessary. I have not driven in ATL in many years so I was naturally shocked when I drove through ATL recently. First let me state before you as a reader say I must be a country fellow who obviously doesn't know what real traffic is. I have driven through New York City, Jacksonville, Fl. and Dallas, TX. Atlanta has Jacksonville beat, Dallas beat, and New York nearly matched. The traffic during the hours of 7:00am-9:00am is terrible around the outer perimeter, and worst of all downtown where I-75 and I-85 meet. Avoid! Also avoid traffic during evening rush hour from 4:00pm-7:00pm. It comes to a standstill as much as 15 miles from downtown!! ATL has terrible traffic problems because one, the population has boomed in the last 5 years adding on a million people so Ga. highway dept. cannot keep up with the ever increasing traffic flow, and two, the already congested highways are not as wide as they could be- 4 lanes in many areas needs to be 6 lanes.

[atlantagreg30127]

This is news? You must not have been reading these forums for oh... years? There are near daily posts about the traffic here.

1) Many of the 5.1 metro people live on the opposite side of the metro area where they work. It's some odd freak of nature that no one has been able to figure out (global warming most likely causes it). So every morning, everyone from one side of the metro drives to the OTHER side of the metro, then, back again in the afternoon.

2) No one actually has a job here. They just drive around in their cars all day. This is why some areas are just as clogged at 10am and 1:30pm as they are during rush hour anywhere else. People just drive around here as their official job.

3) 98.5% of all traffic lights in the metro area are professionally timed so that if you go the speed limit, the next light will turn red JUST BEFORE you get to it. Then the next.. and next...

4) There are no official school bus stops anymore where kids walk a couple of blocks here and there and get picked up and dropped off. All kids get door-to-door limo service. Each bus stops an average of every 4 1/2 feet for miles.

5) You have people from all over the world living here with extremely varied driving habits - ON TOP OF a certain number of illegals who are driving with no valid license at all. The "melting pot" may work well during a cultural festival - on the perimeter beltway at rush hour? No so good.

6) Ah, and last, can we leave out the 38% of drivers here who are too busy chatting on the cells to really pay attention to what they're doing? Or those eating cereal? Putting on makeup? All of the above? Yes, at least a handful of these crack-drivers will cause the daily accidents that on top of every other reason listed above, hault traffic completely in varied areas throughout the day.

Welcome. Remember to wear your Depends undergarments next time.

[gnatty8]

I have to agree with you..

Traffic has been getting steadily worse in the 5 years we have lived here to the point we will likely leave Atlanta altogether in the near future. My commute is 18 miles one way, and mornings (leaving the house at 7 AM) is a minimum of 50 minutes, sometimes an hour. Evenings, leaving office at 5:30, hour on average. In other words, almost 2 hours to drive 36 miles...

Worst thing? Half of it is at 65 mph, the other half, you can do the math. I have lived in 4 other cities as big as or bigger than Atlanta, and Atlanta traffic is absolutely the worst.

[Britishintown]

I don't find it a problem, I just use local roads and avoid the freeway.

[dens]

You know traffic is all relative...I really do not see the problem the way often communicated on this board but maybe 45 minutes in moving traffic is a problem for others...I live in Alpharetta west of exit 9 and I work in midtown...although I leave home at 6:45am, I get to work in less than 45 minutes..at night I leave between 5pm to 5:30pm and NEVER more than 50 minutes even with the rain we had one night here this week. So if 45 minutes is long to you then trafiic is bad but that is fine by me. Now I live 2 miles from the 400 so maybe it is the commute after the highway that people find so tedious.

[irvm]

Originally Posted by atlantagreg30127

6) Ah, and last, can we leave out the 38% of drivers here who are too busy chatting on the cells to really pay attention to what they're doing? Or those eating cereal? Putting on makeup? All of the above?

Greg: I must correct one error - my own informal survey says over 80% of the drivers on 285 are busy yakking away on their cell phones at any given time.

The one that takes the prize, however, is the lady who was using one of those - I don't even know the correct name - medieval-looking plier devices which curl your, er.. I mean her, eyelashes. While driving. I'm sure that's completely safe...

[Vampgrrl]

Traffic was the number one quality of life issue that drove me out of Atlanta.
I just couldn't handle it anymore...and if I wanted to go back to school there was no way I could make it to GA State from Alpharetta down 400 at 4 or 5PM.

[Ectoprism]

I'd rank Atlanta's traffic as the 2nd worst I've had to deal with. Los Angeles being the worst.

At least in Atlanta there's set rush hours and traffic is typically only bad during them. LA's rush hour times are longer and the traffic between them during the day can stay pretty nasty.

Give it a few more years (aka..1-2 million more people in the metro area ) and I'm pretty sure our traffic will be dead even with LA's.

[LoveMiami]

well guys you have a home in alpharreta and than you complain about traffic in ATL.
why dont you move in the city?
if you are single there is no need to live 45 min outside in atlanta.

[Vampgrrl]

Most people dont want to live in the city. I would have but sometimes living situations and jobs don't line up. It's easy to live in Midtown, have a job in Duluth or live in Vinings and have a job in Lawrenceville or Alpharetta.