Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Why should the rest of us have to pay for something the county brought on itself? State funding is necessary when there's either a regional benefit, or the project will actually benefit an area, but to fund what amounts to corporate welfare because of a bad decision by a county commission is something else entirely!
As someone who works with GDOT consistently, the department has very little money to spend on beefing up roads in the area for the benefit of the Braves, and the studies for the toll lanes/Windy Hill DDI did not take into account new stadium traffic (that would've been impossible given that GDOT and ARC found out about the stadium the day it was announced). So much for great planning by Cobb.
The list I gave above can probably be better organized into a sort of colored grid on a map showing main arterials people can move. E.g. W. Wesley - you can take take it to Moore's Mill to Atlanta Rd to Spring Rd or Paces Ferry or Cumberland Pkwy without even needing to do more than cross Cobb Pkwy at some point. Roads like Windy Hill and Windy Ridge and Interstate North provide back ways in.
Anyone driving in metro Atlanta should know better than to take the freeway without knowing the surface roads as a backup, and knowing alternate surface roads. I know the reality is that people still pile on the freeway when they don't have to.
However, even if they do, there's absolutely no reason they need to go within 1 mile of the I-75/I-285 interchange. There's multiple surface road bypasses around it in the Smyrna/Vinings/Cumberland area. The most obvious one is the loop which was paid for in the 80s by the CID.
But obviously not every motorist headed to Braves' games is likely going to avoid the I-75/I-285 NW Cobb Cloverleaf interchange.
Many stadium-bound motorists from other parts of the Atlanta region are going to drive through the I-75/I-285 NW interchange to exit at the US 41 Cobb Parkway interchange which is a major access point to the Cumberland/Galleria area (...Many regional stadium-bound motorists are going to drive through the I-75/I-285 NW interchange to exit at US 41 particularly if their parking spaces are located or are directly-accessed by way of US 41...While much of the parking for Braves' games will be off-site of the Braves' stadium and will require the use of shuttles to transport fans between their off-site parking spaces and the new stadium).
Also, some of the surface routes that you named as alternative routes to the stadium (like Interstate North Parkway, Akers Mill Road, Powers Ferry Road, etc) only have one through lane for traffic headed in the direction of the stadium area.
Also, there's the new high-density mixed-use real estate development that will be sparked by the stadium that will generate much additional traffic in the area in addition to game night and game day traffic.
With so much additional traffic being generated by the Braves' home games at the stadium and new development sparked by the stadium in and around the Cumberland/Galleria area, it is clear that the existing limited transit-deficient road network is not the long-term answer to both the pre-stadium and post-stadium traffic challenges....And you can best believe that with rush hour and peak-hour traffic already being extremely-heavy in and around the I-75/I-285 NW Cobb Cloverleaf-Cumberland/Galleria area that there will be traffic challenges.
The additional traffic that will be generated by the new Braves' stadium and the accompanying new real estate development will most likely necessitate the implementation of high-capacity transit (likely regional heavy rail transit) through the Cumberland/Galleria area at some point in the not-too-distant future.
But obviously not every motorist headed to Braves' games is likely going to avoid the I-75/I-285 NW Cobb Cloverleaf interchange.
I'm really hoping Cobb and GDOT when outside the county put permanent sides out there guiding people off ahead of and around the cloverleaf.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll
The additional traffic that will be generated by the new Braves' stadium and the accompanying new real estate development will most likely necessitate the implementation of high-capacity transit (likely regional heavy rail transit) through the Cumberland/Galleria area at some point in the not-too-distant future.
I agree about that. Just keep in mind that it won't relieve congestion. They'll still use the roads to capacity or beyond before the overflow decide to use transit.
I'm not too concerned about the mixed-use development outside of game times. We already have a lot of mixed-use in the Cumberland area and are building more besides the Braves'. This one will be special because it'll probably create nightlife, but that's off-peak already.
I think the worst thing is that the flyover to I-285W is super-important to keep Westbound people getting off at Cobb Pkwy from crossing people headed from I-75N to I-285W, and it's something that isn't even ready for funding had they wanted to do it, since it hasn't been studied since decades back, when it was deemed unecessary (yet, there is the dead-end offramp for it, already). So, people who live around me are going to probably be taking Moore's Mill a lot to bypass the whole thing on game days, or taking Marietta Blvd home. Either way, that's going to have a spill-over effect on Atlanta's grid.
I think the state needs to take the reigns here and build that flyover. It's really beyond something that a county government is equipped to handle.
Though I don't think that particular flyover may be necessary, I definitely think that Atlanta needs a LOT more flyover ramps at its interchanges. Those partial cloverleafs may be okay for some lesser-used routes, but they cause major traffic headaches for others.
This is what America is coming to and its an intellectual and cultural shame.
Spare us the cliched "things were better in my day" Grandpa routine. People feeling kindred with their local sports teams more so than their local opera house is not a new phenomenon.
Spare us the cliched "things were better in my day" Grandpa routine. People feeling kindred with their local sports teams more so than their local opera house is not a new phenomenon.
You young whippersnappers still have a lot to learn.
You young whippersnappers still have a lot to learn.
Hah. I'm probably closer to being a grandfather than I am a grandson. But I still think bemoaning the downturn of our civilization because more people care about a pro sports team leaving the city limits than they do about the opera leaving is silly.
Sports fandom is by definition irrational, which is why issues like this are so nuts. In every tangible measurable way the move is probably better for the city (especially the area around Turner field), and despite that intowners are understandably hurt. And in every tangible measurable way the move is probably bad for Cobb, and yet Cobbians (Cobbies?) are understandably excited.
Spare us the cliched "things were better in my day" Grandpa routine. People feeling kindred with their local sports teams more so than their local opera house is not a new phenomenon.
It's got nothing to do with grandpa stuff. The arts have always been a very large component of what defines our legacy. Not touchdowns and basketball stars. Look to history.
And in every tangible measurable way the move is probably bad for Cobb, and yet Cobbians (Cobbies?) are understandably excited.
Cobblers? Cobbknobs? Cobbgoblins? I'm not sure what to call them either.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
