Will Atlanta sprawl to Columbus and Macon? (Savannah, Warner Robins: unemployment rate, buy)

[wxjay]

Originally Posted by DeaconJ

I'm not sure that the population will ever again shift to such a cold and snowy region with the hard winters like they experience around the Great Lakes. It's a life of hardship in many ways, and those hardships are easily left behind with a move south. Life in our warmer weather has only minor inconveniences in comparison. Once people found out that fact, the mass exodus began...

Yes it's SO hard to live where temperatures drop below freezing and you have to use your heat in your homes and occasionally have snowfall. I mean, it's like living in Siberia or something - no big cities, no retail, no food for 4 months. How could our country have ever ever survived such tragic places to live like Boston, New York City, Seattle, Chicago, and Minneapolis? The very thought that these places are actually habitable are just unimaginable.

Atlanta has some of the highest average annual rainfall of any large city in the U.S.

With the exclusion of Floridian cities, many east coast cities have about 45" of rain annually, thanks for either thunderstorms or Nor'easters or massive cold fronts. So really I don't see the magic and specialness of Atlanta getting, say, 3" more annually than New York City, particularly when the latter has almost double the population in the city alone.

[johnatl]

Seattle gets about as much snow as we do. The Eastern burbs up into the Cascades are a different matter.

[Saintmarks]

As I stand to inherit land a couple of miles from the Hogansville exit on 85 (the first exit north after the 185 merge) I am torn by the thought of development in this area. If it does, my land price will appreciate greatly, but this land has been in the family for generations and I love to go back and be in rural heaven.

I would rather see the second and third tier cities develop and grow, not just one big suburban sprawl. I know it isn't the American mindset, but I think we need to look at stricter zoning laws and some form of land management to protect rural areas from uncontrolled growth.

I lived in London in the 80s, after WWII, London enacted green belt laws to keep London from spilling helter skelter all over the southern part of England. Today London has 3 to 4 times the population of metro Atlanta in a smaller footprint. I would hope that some of the powers that be will see that unchecked sprawl isn't in the best interest of the region as a whole.

I believe this mindset is closer to reality today than it was even 10 years ago. The city of Atlanta is gaining population. I would rather see a Georgia where Macon, Columbus, Augusta, Savannah, etc become cities of 3-400,000 + and LaGrange, Rome, Gainesville, Dalton, etc become 100,000 + cities instead of the Gwinettiazation of the rest of north Georgia.

[johnatl]

Absolutely wonderful post, Saintmarks. I totally agree.

[wxjay]

Originally Posted by johnatl

Seattle gets about as much snow as we do. The Eastern burbs up into the Cascades are a different matter.

Seattle actually averages about 8" of snow per year.

[matt8325]

Originally Posted by wxjay

Seattle actually averages about 8" of snow per year.

That's at the Seattle Airport which is about 15 miles away. Snowfall can vary in the Seattle area. I believe downtown Seattle gets less than 8".

[johnatl]

They most certainly do, matt8325. I was there in Feb. two years ago, and it reminded me very much of here when it snowed in the City of Seattle. The people that do not live on the far Eastside can no more handle the stuff than we can.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by DeaconJ

Where are you getting gas for $2 and change??? I need to go there...

I just paid $2.68 or $2.69 two days ago for regular unleaded at the station on the E/W Connector and Floyd Road, and I'm seeing prices as low as $2.53 in the Smyrna area on Gasbuddy:

Smyrna Gas Prices - Find the Lowest Gas Prices in Smyrna, Georgia

Atlanta has some of the highest average annual rainfall of any large city in the U.S., but the massive, explosive population growth in the region quickly made the reservoirs in the area insufficient. Hopefully before another drought appears, the new reservoirs will be ready and full so there won't be a problem.

The problem with water consumption does not stem from Atlanta or its metro population, but rather from downstream interests (mainly older power plants) which require roughly 10x the water that the metro does.

[pirate_lafitte]

Originally Posted by netdragon

Even with the Savannah-Macon-Atlanta-Chattanooga maglev being built, there will probably never be sprawl that far out due to commute times, but we might see a string (more like a pearl necklace) of connected townships and cities with populations in the 20,000s to 50,000s along the interstates. Depressed metros like Macon will probably grow a little but the smaller towns closer to Atlanta, like Jackson, will probably benefit more. The same thing will happen towards Columbus. Towards Chattanooga, though, we'll probably see more development and sprawl and Chattanooga is likely to grow a lot more because the area around it is more scenic and that tends to attract people. It's also on the edge of a very popular vacation area. Areas between the interstate are very unlikely to fill in like they are around Atlanta. In fact, we're seeing signs of that already. Cartersville, Dalton, Jackson, Newnan, etc are growing much faster than even areas between interstates closer to Atlanta.

I think the think we're going to see very shortly in metro ATL is that land prices will drive industry to neighboring communities outside the metro. That will be the beginning of the neighboring region's growth, but we need to make sure it's well-connected by rail.

A maglev line can work for Georgia. And it should be done. Sadly, I don't see the state of Georgia as progressive enough for that. It would take taxes for that and I don't believe alot of residents would be willing to support a tax for a rail line, even with the benefits.

[pickleswanson]

Oh well pic didn't show so here's the link:

Image:Macon-Warner Robins-Fort Valley CSA.png - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It was first try at attaching one. I'll try again some other time.

As you can see by this map and one of a previous poster, ATL metro and MAC metro already join. It is very common to find residents in both metro areas who travel daily between the 2. I was not able to find a good map of Columbus metro to post however even wiki shows in words that it has no less than one county separating the 2 and it is less common to find residents that travel daily between the 2, although it does happen there as well. Augusta too has this issue but even less so as it appears to have more a separate identity from ATL than either of the aforementioned.

Even in your travels from ATL to any of the 3 other metro areas there is less of a development distinction between MAC & ATL than any of the others. The actual milage is less even being 84.4 from downtown to downtown 109 to Columbus and 148 to Augusta. Generally speaking growth trends also make this more viable with more people moving traditionally north and south rather than east and west.

Some even mentioned Chattanooga which I too agree would happen before Columbus even though it is further at 116 miles. Growth and popularity between the 2 just simply outweighs Columbus. While we are adding such cities you might as well toss in Birmingham, it is a mile closer than Augusta and the 2 cities certainly don't hate each other. Honestly it makes more sense for a rail line to be built between these 2 than many others in GA if they are solely looking at it from a profitable stand point.

Hopefully though Saintmarks suggestion will be considered with great regard to ensure that each area will continue to have it own distinct location rather than become one huge megalopolis.