Truckers Rank I-85 and 285 as the #1 Slowest Interchange in the Nation (Atlanta: rail, relocation)

[ATLTJL]

There's almost always bumper to bumper traffic somewhere in Atlanta, even on weekends.

If you didnt encounter any, that's just good luck.

[Need4Camaro]

Originally Posted by 2Easy

And you were right. The last two times that I’ve been to Atlanta I’ve driven around on weekends with absolutely no traffic concerns.

Unfortunately even having after been to Los Angeles where you're from, I have to disagree, Atlanta's traffic is becoming a serious problem and while not QUITE Los Angeles tier, its definitely close to becoming a runner up. Thing about Los Angeles is, you ALWAYS have alternative routes. In Atlanta that isn't the case there are roads you're forced to use and those roads are also priority routes for the entire southeast region.

Come down to I-85 on the northeastern side of Atlanta during Saturday between 11am and 3pm and you'll see some incredible traffic. I-285 almost always is congested on the North end especially near I-75.

Originally Posted by bu2

The last two weekends I've had major delays.

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

There's almost always bumper to bumper traffic somewhere in Atlanta, even on weekends.

If you didnt encounter any, that's just good luck.

This explains it.
I also run into severe delays on weekends almost as often as I do on week days and if it wasnt for my peachpass comuting would become a nightmare.

[jsvh]

What? We were promised this interchange would cure traffic when it was built!

Tom Moreland Interchange cures Atlanta traffic woes

It's almost like the added capacity only induced more traffic and made things even worse!

[Need4Camaro]

Originally Posted by jsvh

What? We were promised this interchange would cure traffic when it was built!

Tom Moreland Interchange cures Atlanta traffic woes

It's almost like the added capacity only induced more traffic and made things even worse!

*sigh*

Have a good day Mr.Bullet.

[samiwas1]

Originally Posted by jsvh

What? We were promised this interchange would cure traffic when it was built!

The link promises traffic would be cured? I don't see anywhere where it says the bridge will cure traffic in perpetuity. It says "can accommodate the expected traffic level of 373,000 vehicles per day by the year 2000." This was 13 years after the interchange was built. Now, more than 30 years later, the interchange sees some half a million vehicles per day, or more.

It's almost like the added capacity only induced more traffic and made things even worse!

No, the previous interchange was already past capacity, and they designed a new one to hold more. But, the region has expanded beyond that in the decades since. There is absolutely no transportation solution anywhere in the world that never needs to be scaled up as population increases multiple times over. Seeing that this interchange alone sees more cars (and even more people) than the entire daily ridership of MARTA (both rail and bus together), I think it's safe to say that simply having an alternative would not have reduced demand so much that an expansion would never be necessary.

So, in your world, should an area never expand, and instead just pack more and more people into the same footprint?

Also note in your article that the bid for the interchange was $63 million ($136 million in today's dollars). That seems absurdly low. That's only about 50% more than the downtown streetcar, and it serves literally 500 times more people per day.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by jsvh

What? We were promised this interchange would cure traffic when it was built!

Tom Moreland Interchange cures Atlanta traffic woes

It's almost like the added capacity only induced more traffic and made things even worse!

Folks are always going to complain about traffic, no matter what you do.

First it was build the freeways, build MARTA, build more freeways, build more MARTA, etc., etc.

People are still going to grouse. It's the way the world works.

[jsvh]

Yes, freeways will never be cured of traffic. Tax money spent on widening them is wasted and should go towards other uses. That is my point.

[Need4Camaro]

You see he even cares enough to post a realistic cartoon of us sitting in traffic... of course none of our noses are that long but I guess that gets the point across :P

[primaltech]

Originally Posted by jsvh

Yes, freeways will never be cured of traffic.

Traffic is simply the movement of vehicles on a roadway. So I would certainly hope not.

Adding road capacity helps reduce over-congestion. You just can't simply build a few roads once or twice, and then not touch anything for decades or add any outer perimeter or anything. AKA what Atlanta/Georgia did. Thus all the ridiculous congestion at 85@285.

[jsvh]

Originally Posted by primaltech

Adding road capacity helps reduce over-congestion.

No, it doesn't. It induces even more traffic and congestion in the long run.






Adding capacity really is taking a short-term hit of relief that only makes the problem worse long-term.