North Druid Hills Road to sink under it's own weight (Atlanta: home, school)

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by bu2

I suspect what has happened is that Buckhead and Midtown have boomed, so a lot of people use N. Druid Hills to get to those areas. The traffic is mostly people passing through heading to Buckhead or getting on I-85, not people going to Executive Park.

The entrance/exit ramps to I-85 are antiquated causing problems on North Druid Hills, Briarcliff and I-85 North and South. The timing of the lights is very poor, resulting in a lot of gridlock and wasted green light time. The Buford Hwy. intersection often backs traffic up through Briarcliff a long way back towards Toco Hills. There is a LOT that could be done to improve the through traffic without adding any lanes. There is available ROW between Briarcliff and I-85, but extra lanes would be only limited help, especially considering the bottlenecks surrounding that stretch.

All of the I-85 entrance/exit ramps from 400 North are antiquated and create hazards on both the side streets and the freeway itself. The timing of the lights all along creates problems. The timing at Shallowford isn't quite as bad, but Chamblee Tucker, Clairmont and N. Druid Hills are ridiculous.

CHOA got Brookhaven to annex, because they knew they would not force them to do anything to deal with traffic.

Maybe the state can step in to work with CHOA.

Sounds like GDOTs problem, as those are interstate and state roadway issues.

[cqholt]

Sounds like this emerging dense, employment center needs to steer away from car-centric, low density development and begin to focus on alternative transportation. Convert the 85 HOV lanes to HOT and run BRT service in them, with a station at this location, that connects to Lindbergh Center station. There is enough room at the overpass, by removing the 85 NB exit to WB NDH ramp, creating a diverging diamond and using the extra room for a BRT station on the freeway (similar to LA Metro's Silver Line.)
Convert 2 lanes of NDH to bus-only, during peak hours. Focus transit improvements on making the bus a better option, as rail is not going to work in this area.
http://atlanta.curbed.com/2017/2/10/...tal-brookhaven

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

But, unfortunately there does not necessarily seem to be much more that the State of Georgia can do help relieve traffic along this stretch of North Druid Hills Road at this particular time.

Revisiting their financial role with regard to MARTA might be a good start. To me the fact that MARTA is the only large metro transportation system that receives no state funding is a frank embarrassment. And they sure don't mind sticking their nose in MARTA's business despite that.

[AtlJan]

Originally Posted by bu2

I suspect what has happened is that Buckhead and Midtown have boomed, so a lot of people use N. Druid Hills to get to those areas. The traffic is mostly people passing through heading to Buckhead or getting on I-85, not people going to Executive Park.

The entrance/exit ramps to I-85 are antiquated causing problems on North Druid Hills, Briarcliff and I-85 North and South. The timing of the lights is very poor, resulting in a lot of gridlock and wasted green light time. The Buford Hwy. intersection often backs traffic up through Briarcliff a long way back towards Toco Hills. There is a LOT that could be done to improve the through traffic without adding any lanes. There is available ROW between Briarcliff and I-85, but extra lanes would be only limited help, especially considering the bottlenecks surrounding that stretch.

All of the I-85 entrance/exit ramps from 400 North are antiquated and create hazards on both the side streets and the freeway itself. The timing of the lights all along creates problems. The timing at Shallowford isn't quite as bad, but Chamblee Tucker, Clairmont and N. Druid Hills are ridiculous.

CHOA got Brookhaven to annex, because they knew they would not force them to do anything to deal with traffic.

Maybe the state can step in to work with CHOA.

There's also a cluster of schools in this area, Rivers Academy, Atlanta International Montessori, Immaculate Heart of Mary, Annunciation Day School, The Torah Day School, Cliff Valley School, Midtown International School, Intown Community School--these are all relatively small schools but they have a significant impact on traffic, as is evident by the lighter traffic on school holidays for those of us driving by with regularity. Most of them draw from large geographic areas--just an example of the kind of traffic that will be hard to reduce through public transit.

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by AtlJan

There's also a cluster of schools in this area, Rivers Academy, Atlanta International Montessori, Immaculate Heart of Mary, Annunciation Day School, The Torah Day School, Cliff Valley School, Midtown International School, Intown Community School--these are all relatively small schools but they have a significant impact on traffic, as is evident by the lighter traffic on school holidays for those of us driving by with regularity. Most of them draw from large geographic areas--just an example of the kind of traffic that will be hard to reduce through public transit.

IHM is around the corner from us and renders Briarcliff a total disaster in the morning and afternoon. Summer and holiday breaks are a Godsend for the locals.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Sounds like this emerging dense, employment center needs to steer away from car-centric, low density development and begin to focus on alternative transportation. Convert the 85 HOV lanes to HOT and run BRT service in them, with a station at this location, that connects to Lindbergh Center station. There is enough room at the overpass, by removing the 85 NB exit to WB NDH ramp, creating a diverging diamond and using the extra room for a BRT station on the freeway (similar to LA Metro's Silver Line.)
Convert 2 lanes of NDH to bus-only, during peak hours. Focus transit improvements on making the bus a better option, as rail is not going to work in this area.
http://atlanta.curbed.com/2017/2/10/...tal-brookhaven

North Druid Hills is often a parking lot from Buford Highway well back beyond Briarcliff in the morning and in the reverse in the afternoon (and its pretty heavy both times in the opposite direction). Converting 2 existing lanes to bus only is one of the most unrealistic ideas I've ever heard on this board.

[red92s]

If we just install some bike lanes, that'lll do 'er.

[fourthwarden]

Originally Posted by bu2

North Druid Hills is often a parking lot from Buford Highway well back beyond Briarcliff in the morning and in the reverse in the afternoon (and its pretty heavy both times in the opposite direction). Converting 2 existing lanes to bus only is one of the most unrealistic ideas I've ever heard on this board.

Because if traffic is already at a stand still, offering alternatives to that traffic is... a bad idea?

A high-frequency, and high-capacity bus route, like the planned ART, would make much better use of the road space than the cars would.

Originally Posted by red92s

If we just install some bike lanes, that'lll do 'er.

They certainly wouldn't hurt.

[AtlJan]

Originally Posted by bu2

North Druid Hills is often a parking lot from Buford Highway well back beyond Briarcliff in the morning and in the reverse in the afternoon (and its pretty heavy both times in the opposite direction). Converting 2 existing lanes to bus only is one of the most unrealistic ideas I've ever heard on this board.

Thank you, I totally agree. I just named about 10 schools in that area where parents are frantically trying to get kids to school, then run other kid to preschool, then get to work all between 7 and 8 am. Some version of that is what most people are trying to do in the mornings--I don't think they'll be using the bus.

[magnetar]

I rode the bus to school; plenty of kids manage it.