Deal wants $10 billion, 10-year transportation investment plan (Atlanta, Columbus: houses, construction)

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by primaltech

Express lanes just end up being more car lanes. And with ridiculously high tolls to try to keep them somewhat moving.

How about a transit only lane all the way around 285, with buses running freely along it all day. With direct bus only ramp access to Doraville, Dunwoody and Indian Creek stations, a new station on the west side at Boulder Park/MLK, and some kind of park&ride bus transit center at Cumberland, Northlake, and Greenbriar.

That sounds like a pretty good idea.

[fourthwarden]

Originally Posted by primaltech

Express lanes just end up being more car lanes. And with ridiculously high tolls to try to keep them somewhat moving.

How about a transit only lane all the way around 285, with buses running freely along it all day. With direct bus only ramp access to Doraville, Dunwoody and Indian Creek stations, a new station on the west side at Boulder Park/MLK, and some kind of park&ride bus transit center at Cumberland, Northlake, and Greenbriar.

I like the idea of bus lanes in general, but think that, were we doing a Perimeter based transit set up, that the Nothern-half of the perimeter, from a hypothetical Boulder Park / MLK station to Indian Creek (or a Covington Hwy / Wesley Chapel station given MARTA's I-20 East expansion), should be light-rail at minimum, heavy rail ideally.

As a note to this, though they will not have dedicated lanes, GRTA will be running buses all around the perimeter in the not too distant future. Granted it will mostly be to the Airport...

[Saintmarks]

Originally Posted by Caleb Longstreet

What about Interstate 3? (Highway from Savannah to Knoxville)? Is there any plan to get this funded (I know, it's Federal but, highly related).....this would go a long, long way to alleviate all the trucks that run through Atlanta as there is no other way to get South if you are West of I-95.....major corridor that needs major relief...

That coupled with expanding I-16 and I-20 a bit......if we can build "Ga 300" the most elegant and non-used highway to Albany from I-75 certainly we can fix that I-16/I-75 split near downtown Macon...downright dangerous....I-475 heading south/north notwithstanding (think I-16 coming West and making the split second decision to go North or South on I-75...no worries, most people force you off one way or another.....

How about a 775 to cover the approaches to I-285 on the West side of town...kind of like I-675 tried to do going East....coming north into town is ALWAYS a nightmare in Henry County....

No matter.....10 billion.....hope there is TREMENDOUS accounting/accountability with the money.....that is no small budget.....anyone got the numbers on the ongoing maintenance AFTER it's all in place?

I-3 will not happen to Knoxville. Anything going thru the mountains will be shot down by the environmentalist bloc. I propose taking it from Savannah to Augusta to Athens to Gainesville to Rome and then over to Huntsville to connect to proposed routes that would go from Memphis to Huntsville.


I also like a proposal to extend 1-81 southward to Tallahassee and/or Panama City. It would overlay 75 from Knoxville to Chattanooga and then follow the old West Georgia Tollway proposal back from the 70s, connect with 185 at LaGrange and then extend southward from Columbus.


Add the proposed I-14 (Columbus to Macon to Augusta) and you have routes for through traffic to avoid Atlanta at just about any angle. I nice super outer loop (or triangle as the case may be).


Again, you guys need to vote me in as governor. I will make things happen.

[fourthwarden]

Originally Posted by Saintmarks

I-3 will not happen to Knoxville. Anything going thru the mountains will be shot down by the environmentalist bloc. I propose taking it from Savannah to Augusta to Athens to Gainesville to Rome and then over to Huntsville to connect to proposed routes that would go from Memphis to Huntsville.


I also like a proposal to extend 1-81 southward to Tallahassee and/or Panama City. It would overlay 75 from Knoxville to Chattanooga and then follow the old West Georgia Tollway proposal back from the 70s, connect with 185 at LaGrange and then extend southward from Columbus.


Add the proposed I-14 (Columbus to Macon to Augusta) and you have routes for through traffic to avoid Atlanta at just about any angle. I nice super outer loop (or triangle as the case may be).


Again, you guys need to vote me in as governor. I will make things happen.

Is that an official deceleration of candidacy?

[tikigod311]

I feel so torn about these express lanes projects. As they stand now, they are a waste and hella ugly. But it also makes sense that this will put us in a really good position when driverless vehicles become a thing. This may be a better investment in our future than it appears.

Regardless, $10 Billion? We need some transit up in there.

[Ant131531]

I agree with the poster that said Atlanta needs to secede from Georgia. I mean, Atlanta already accounts for 90%+ of the job growth in the state. Why does the region needs the rest of the state? From there on, we may be able to fund public transportation that this region SERIOUSLY needs.

[netdragon]

I was just up near the outlet center North of Cumming along 400 and I have to say that it a horrible horrible horrible horrible area that is so car-centric yet so disgustingly horrible for cars, somehow, when it's virtually rural. Heck, the whole 400 cooridor is horrendous. Alpharetta is a mess. I was wishing I could be back in Cobb almost immediately. Cobb's traffic is so much better even though there's a ton more people in Cobb. It just handled the people a lot better instead of widening roads off a single highway for a mile or so, widening the highway, and calling it a day. And they've been just pouring money into 400 for god knows how long. So what are they going to do, just keep adding exits and lanes all the way up to Cleveland? Ridiculous. I don't want my money going for that. People should stop building where the roads can't support it and if they do, they should be told to go to hell. Seriously.

Transit

[primaltech]

Originally Posted by fourthwarden

I like the idea of bus lanes in general, but think that, were we doing a Perimeter based transit set up, that the Nothern-half of the perimeter, from a hypothetical Boulder Park / MLK station to Indian Creek (or a Covington Hwy / Wesley Chapel station given MARTA's I-20 East expansion), should be light-rail at minimum, heavy rail ideally.

Yeah I would love rail, but it's expensive. I mean, it wouldn't be the most cost effective way to get there.

If you guys elect ME governor (or, benevolent dictator), I would implement a serious regional (and statewide) transit system, for super cheap, and super quickly. I would declare all current HOV and HOT lanes on the highways as strictly bus only, and convert one of the god knows how many lanes on 285, and on the rest of the highways, to bus only. The main cost would be in constructing a few new bridges and underpasses for bus only exit ramps, and I would run a little short curb barrier to actually physically separate the transit lane from the congestion lanes, and the buses would never have to merge in and out of them.

Then you can use that never-congested regional lane network to do any number of things. An express bus-based commuter transit system for Cobb, Gwinnett, North Fulton, all the rest of the OTP corridors and suburbs. A direct little 5-minute MARTA shuttle bus link that runs all day, between Doraville and Dunwoody stations. A MARTA BRT line that connects Cumberland with Perimeter and runs around the loop all day. Or whatever. For very minimal overall cost. Obviously you'd need to purchase more buses.

Also, the thing about OTP suburban counties, with few possible exceptions (like Cumberland), they don't really need to stop in their own counties. Like, I mean, someone getting on at Suwanee doesn't need the bus to stop at Pleasant Hill, Indian Trail, and Jimmy Carter, which are all just mainly residential areas. They need an express type deal, where they park their car, get on a bus, and the bus takes them directly and quickly as possible to a MARTA station or to whatever area of town they are going, without stopping at all.

In many respects, an excellent express bus system would actually work better and make more sense for our particular greater region, because of how sprawled everything is. If MARTA HRT went all through Gwinnett and had 10 stations up there, it would take quite a while to get from the ones in the back all the way to downtown or the airport.

[netdragon]

"Enhanced service to Perimeter Center" haha. That again shows they are thinking inside-the-box. They should be focused on commuter trips and entertainment trips for planning lines, not on what they would like to be where people commute. More commuter trips flow into Cobb County than out, for instance.

Originally Posted by fourthwarden

[netdragon]

If you think about something ironic: The extra four lanes being added on I-285 between Paces Ferry and Atlanta Rd are just directly connecting the two exit lanes to two entrance lanes. Kind of like "yeah, Cumberland Parkway and Atlanta Rd aren't wide enough, so let's do more lanes, baby!" Now people can just sort of "teleport" from Atlanta Rd to Paces Ferry and vice-versa as if they are one location :-)

Hey, maybe we can put a light rail line down Atlanta Rd or Cumberland Pkwy now? :-)