Residents push back against widening of Hwy 20 to six lanes in Cherokee and Forsyth counties (Atlanta: buying a house, neighborhood)

[Carolina Knight]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

It appears that the Georgia Department may be attempting to compensate for not being able to build the old Northern Arc/Outer Perimeter superhighway (proposals that were killed due to much public pushback in the late-1990's and early-2000's) by attempting to widen Georgia 20 to as many as six-plus lanes between Canton and Cumming.

Though, it is very likely that GDOT may be attempting to increase their chances of making a GA 20 widening project a reality by pushing forth the most-unpopular option (the option of widening GA 20 to six-plus lanes) and then falling back to the less-unpopular option (the option of widening GA 20 to four-plus lanes) when the certain public pushback occurs

If Georgia State Route 20 through Cherokee and Forsyth counties cannot be widened to additional lanes, then the Georgia Department of Transportation should revisit the idea of a new controlled-access highway from Interstate 75 to Interstate 85 across northern Georgia. There are not many alternatives remaining to resolve the necessity.

[Mossberg]

People can be very short-sighted. Lessons of the past will show you that it's almost always cheaper and easier to plan for future capacity now with 6 lanes than it is to do 4 lanes now and expand to 6 once the area inevitably chokes again with traffic.

Part of the reason this project is needed in the first place is because people shot down the Northern Arc project that would have taken traffic off of SR-20. They claimed it would bring more traffic and sprawl.

Well, the highway was never built, and the traffic and sprawl came ANYWAY!

This is why residents cannot always be trusted to do what's best for the long term growth of a region. Most have tunnel vision and never see the light at the end of it.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by fieldm

Same as people moving to Alpharetta 30+ years ago. Look at the traffic there now. The average citizen is too dumb to analyze predicted future growth so it should be up to the government to educate the dummies. Hell if we are to let the residents dictate the future we would still have slavery here

Folks move to an area because they like it and figure it will be a good place to live and/or raise their family.

The next thing you know, the city or county is allowing all kinds of new development which totally changes things and brings in more density and traffic.

[Mutiny77]

Originally Posted by arjay57

Folks move to an area because they like it and figure it will be a good place to live and/or raise their family.

The next thing you know, the city or county is allowing all kinds of new development which totally changes things and brings in more density and traffic.

Well a major reason those folks are able to move out to those areas is because the city/county allowed developers to build new homes in the first place. And then those people want more amenities within close proximity and it all begins to build on itself.

If you (generally speaking) think an area is attractive to live, you'd be naive to think you're the only one who thinks so, especially if you're within the footprint of a major metropolitan area.

[fieldm]

Originally Posted by arjay57

Folks move to an area because they like it and figure it will be a good place to live and/or raise their family.

The next thing you know, the city or county is allowing all kinds of new development which totally changes things and brings in more density and traffic.

Well millions of people are expected to move to the metro area in the future. If people are too stupid to realize these people will be drivimg on the same streets as them then tell the idiots they may be better of moving to South Dakota

[biscuit_head]

Originally Posted by arjay57

Folks move to an area because they like it and figure it will be a good place to live and/or raise their family.

The next thing you know, the city or county is allowing all kinds of new development which totally changes things and brings in more density and traffic.

That's the risk folks take when they move to a subdivision that is built in those areas, so why do they act brand new and surprised when others want to move to the area? And then said newcomers want shops, restaurants, and other amenities. This has been happening in a fast-growing area like Metro Atlanta for the last 50 years, so I don't sympathize with short-sighted people who live in a vacuum.

If they want a quiet area thats a good place to live and raise a family, but don't want growth, move to a rural county far from a metro area or a stagnant area with no growth...

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by arjay57

Folks move to an area because they like it and figure it will be a good place to live and/or raise their family.

The next thing you know, the city or county is allowing all kinds of new development which totally changes things and brings in more density and traffic.

New development is the only thing that allows the county/city to pay for the infrastructure needed to support the existing low-density development, it is a viscous cycle.

[Cameron H]

Originally Posted by arjay57

Folks move to an area because they like it and figure it will be a good place to live and/or raise their family.

Right. Folks keep doing that, and pretty soon you need to expand the highway.

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by Cameron H

Right. Folks keep doing that, and pretty soon you need to expand the highway.

And then more people move to the area, and then GDOT has to widen the road again.

[arjay57]

I'm not saying these folks are right, but that's how a lot of them feel.