MARTA transit plan includes 21 miles of light rail (Atlanta, Sandy Springs: apartment, to buy)

[bu2]

Originally Posted by Gulch

Like billion-dollar highway widening programs that GDOT is currently undertaking (and has done so going back to "Freeing the Freeways")?

What highway widening programs?

They're doing it to Augusta on I-85. What other widening have they done since the 80s other than 400 in the early 90s?

What Georgia did while the population increased by 2/3 was to do nothing for a quarter century. It was the ostrich approach. Do nothing and maybe people will quit complaining.

[samiwas1]

Originally Posted by Gulch

Like billion-dollar highway widening programs that GDOT is currently undertaking (and has done so going back to "Freeing the Freeways")?

Where? Since 1999, our population has grown by some 50%, yet our highways remain almost exactly as they were back then. As far as ITP goes, only I20 on the east side gained one lane. All the rest of the interstates are pretty much exactly the same. MARTA has gained two stations since then.

But, if you go back 1988, you'll see that our population has more than doubled, yet only one lane has been added to some interstates. Since 1993, no new lanes have been added to 75N OTP from what I found last year when posting about this, even though population has exploded up there. I85N OTP has added one lane in 25 years for a few miles.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by bu2

You can't ignore the trends. Spending billions to build rail far into the suburbs when fewer and fewer people ride is just not a good investment.

They say insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Atlanta shouldn't do the same thing other cities have done and failed with.

Atlanta should focus on rail close in, not far out. And it should look at where people are and where they are going, not just following some 30 year old college thesis. The southeast beltline is the segment that seems to make the most sense while the northeast seems to make the least sense (do we need rail to take people to Piedmont Park on weekends?) as there are few people and few jobs north of Ponce. But the southeast is not being built at this point.

NE BeltLine has the density (and ever increasing) to support rail-based transit line.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Cheap gas is the #1 reason, what were gas prices in 2008?

A lot of it boils down to plain old fashioned convenience. Folks generally want to get where they are going on their own schedule and on their own terms.

It's just hard for mass transit to compete on that basis.

[Mutiny77]

Originally Posted by bu2

What highway widening programs?

They're doing it to Augusta on I-85. What other widening have they done since the 80s other than 400 in the early 90s?

What Georgia did while the population increased by 2/3 was to do nothing for a quarter century. It was the ostrich approach. Do nothing and maybe people will quit complaining.

You mean I-20?

[NC2ATL60]

Originally Posted by Gulch

Like billion-dollar highway widening programs that GDOT is currently undertaking (and has done so going back to "Freeing the Freeways")?

Are you referring to all of the toll lanes they are adding across the metro? I think the only new free lanes they are adding is a new lane in each direction of Georgia 400 through Forsyth County, and they are adding a extra lane in each direction on the I-85 through the northeast part of the metro past Gwinnett.

Can't think of any other free lanes. Tons of toll lanes coming though.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by NC2ATL60

Are you referring to all of the toll lanes they are adding across the metro? I think the only new free lanes they are adding is a new lane in each direction of Georgia 400 through Forsyth County, and they are adding a extra lane in each direction on the I-85 through the northeast part of the metro past Gwinnett.

Can't think of any other free lanes. Tons of toll lanes coming though.

Those lanes aren't free they cost millions to build and even more to maintain and who knows what the cost of health impacts from increased air pollution, etc.

[samiwas1]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Cheap gas is the #1 reason, what were gas prices in 2008?

Ridership has fallen in the last few years as gas prices have increased more than 60%.

Originally Posted by cqholt

Those lanes aren't free they cost millions to build and even more to maintain and who knows what the cost of health impacts from increased air pollution, etc.

Any infrastructure projects costs million or billions to build. As far as his "free" comment, you knew what he meant.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by samiwas1

Ridership has fallen in the last few years as gas prices have increased more than 60%.

Nowhere near where they were in pre-Great Recession.

[primaltech]

I rarely ride transit, because it's next to useless around this metro. If it were better, or even an option at all, I'd ride more.

It's a combo of there not being enough transit or enough quality transit, but also Metro Atlanta just not being designed for it.

I have no kind of anti-transit position or anything. When I was in Seattle I rode the crap out of transit- it was just better.