HENRY COUNTY Hot Toll Lanes (Atlanta, Roswell: how much, home, construction)

[oobanks]

Henry County Hot Lanes seem to be progressing. A lot of road shifting going on now and you can actually see I-75 Transforming. Noticed Electronic Pricing Signs already being erected in the Stockbridge and McDonough areas already as well as a lot of fiber optic lines being laid. No relief from Traffic in sight anytime soon though from Road Construction. Maybe it will all pay off in the end.

[ATLTJL]

No guesswork necessary.

Just look at how much it has paid off for I-85!

[toll_booth]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

No guesswork necessary.

Just look at how much it has paid off for I-85!

In fairness, GADOT took away the HOV lanes in Gwinnett and turned them into HOT lanes. Henry County's HOT lanes will be brand-new.

But, yeah. There will still be traffic.

[sedimenjerry]

Originally Posted by toll_booth

In fairness, GADOT took away the HOV lanes in Gwinnett and turned them into HOT lanes. Henry County's HOT lanes will be brand-new.

But, yeah. There will still be traffic.

We'll see what happens down in Henry and farther up 85 near MOG and Hamilton Mill. They will be adding completely new lanes for that. I can't wait if for no other reason than avoid Sunday afternoon traffic on 85 southbound at the Mall. It's always backing up now.

[AtlantaIsHot]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

No guesswork necessary.

Just look at how much it has paid off for I-85!

According to the GDOT info and the information gleaned from other sources, the ones in Henry county aren't the same as the ones in Gwinnett. Gwinnett's TOOK an already existing lane. Henry's are new lanes. Gwinnett's are not direction adjustable. Henry's will be reversible. ALL new lanes in Henry will be going TOWARD Atlanta in the morning, and FROM Atlanta in the evening. These types of technologies are necessary to deal with increasing congestion without building ever wider 20 lane monstrosities.

[cwkimbro]

Gwinnett being mentioned so much I wanted to add a few details... I don't want to hi-jack Henry Co., so I'm trying to give this fuel for thought on design that can be applied across the region.

Georgia actually came up a full regional system plan for the managed lanes before doing each individual corridor. It is the 2010 MSLP. They are currently starting the process of creating an update to that plan to re-evaluate changes and perhaps change priorities from the 2010 plan.

They aren't done with Gwinnett. Gwinnett is currently slated to receive 2 new lanes to go with the existing managed lanes. They just did the easier part first as funding was available pretty much for free from the federal government trying to get us to pursue a demonstration project.

The I-75 Southside managed lanes will eventually be extended all the way to I-285 and not just I-675 as well.

It is possible Gwinnett could get reversible lanes, but it is unlikely.

Reversible lanes are a good concept, but there are other factors that come into play when choosing them. Some of it has to do with the costs difference that occurs when using a new elevated portion is the cheapest way forward vs. being able to use at-grade. Some of it has to do with traffic flows going both ways and regional planning. Some of it has to do with the tolling profit potential for having the lanes able to toll going both ways at once. Sometimes the extra tolls actually bring in more revenue than the small amount of added cost for having bi-directional lanes vs. reversible lane.

The reason I don't believe Gwinnett will see reversible lanes is the savings achieved aren't really there and it kills off some toll revenue. At-grade using reversible lanes for just 2 lanes (instead of 3 or 4) doesn't save much space. it requires the use of an added barrier and an added emergency shoulder, whereas the bi-directional system just needs a buffer on each side.

Freeway lanes are typically 11'-12' wide, more commonly 12'. The added barrier, 8' shoulder, plus the smaller shoulder on the other side is 16.5'.

So reversible lanes on at-grade sections saves some space, but not much...aprox. 7.5 feet. Now if we have 3 reversible lanes used, the savings increase. The reversible system also has some more expensive interchanges.

With Cobb once they decided the most efficient way forward was elevated lanes, the savings of reversible lanes was significant. It saves the width of 2 full lanes plus an added barrier with buffers on each side.

Another thing that makes Gwinnett (and GA 400 North) unique is the large amount of jobs along the corridor outside the perimeter. They are also zoned to continue growing. One reason bi-directional was supported in the 2010 plan was that eventually a growing number of reverse can take advantage of bi-direction lanes. This can be seen on parts of both corridors today, especially GA400 near Roswell and Southern Alpharetta in the afternoons.

Even compared to Cobb that has more jobs at I-75 and I-285, Gwinnett's are farther away from I-285 and closer to GA316 and North Fulton's GA400 are really in the Northpoint/Alpharetta corridor. This creates a need for more people reverse commuting going away from the city.

My guess with Henry Co. is there isn't a perceived need or much revenue lost to warrant bi-direction lanes. Henry Co. is growing, but it isn't a major job center. The savings of an approx. 7.5 feet on average became worth it.

[jsvh]

They need HOT lanes everywhere. Sure it is never going to solve traffic in the free lanes (was anyone really expecting that?) By I love having the option to pay to by pass traffic if I need to.

[oobanks]

Originally Posted by jsvh

They need HOT lanes everywhere. Sure it is never going to solve traffic in the free lanes (was anyone really expecting that?) By I love having the option to pay to by pass traffic if I need to.

They can be good in some ways and they seem to be the Tollways of the Future, instead of the orginal Toll Booths we are used to seeing of the Past. Going to be interesting with these Reversable lanes in Henry though. This is going to be very Unique for the South Metro in the least.

[MorrowMan]

The reversible lanes in Henry will definitely be interesting. Some Henry County drivers have trouble navigating a 4-way stop.

[Silvers2]

I'm so glad those Henry Co folks will be able to get home faster on these hot afternoons. You know they haven't had a beer since breakfast.