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I had to make a trip from the mountains down to Buckhead this week for a meeting. My appointment was for 11:00 a.m. in an attempt to avoid the worst of Atlanta's traffic. Yet, it was white knuckle driving even so. Buckhead has become so built up that some of the high rises remind me of fortresses. And somehow, there is something decayed about the place in spite of the flowers and landscaping. Lots of pot holes. The people are friendly, but the built environment is not.
When I left to go back home, the directions I was given were impossible to follow without being very familiar with the area. I ended up in a completely different part of Atlanta. Every time I tried to get off the wrong expressway, there was never any clear way to find a quiet street to regroup. I would get off the expressway, and then the road would send me right back on the same expressway. This happened three times in a row before I finally found an exit that lead into an actual neighborhood where I could stop and ask for better directions.
I was side-swiped by a car on the expressway at one point and saw my life flash before my eyes. Since rush hour was already starting before 5:00 p.m., and I didn't feel like dying, I gave up and spent the night at a motel. I left the next day at 10:30 a.m., which was as good as traffic was going to get, and it was still awful. I was lucky to find a cop who was hanging out at the motel, and he gave me directions on how to find my way back to GA-400 to get back home. The correct route was definitely NOT intuitive and he knew it, but told me to trust him. He told me he ha
Sounds like you had a tough go of it.
I have a terrible sense of directions and can get tangled up in my own neighborhood. The problem with trying to get on GA 400 in Buckhead is that there's only one entrance/exit and it's right on the edge between a neighborhood and a huge commercial area. To make matters worse, you either have to go due north toward the mountains or south toward downtown.
If you miss that entrance/exit or get on going the wrong way, you can wind up going miles out of your way.
My preference is to use the surface streets, as there is generally not much traffic during the mid morning hours. I also have a GPS in the car which is very helpful.
Hope things work out better if you have to come back down this way.
I had to make a trip from the mountains down to Buckhead this week for a meeting. My appointment was for 11:00 a.m. in an attempt to avoid the worst of Atlanta's traffic. Yet, it was white knuckle driving even so. Buckhead has become so built up that some of the high rises remind me of fortresses. And somehow, there is something decayed about the place in spite of the flowers and landscaping. Lots of pot holes. The people are friendly, but the built environment is not.
When I left to go back home, the directions I was given were impossible to follow without being very familiar with the area. I ended up in a completely different part of Atlanta. Every time I tried to get off the wrong expressway, there was never any clear way to find a quiet street to regroup. I would get off the expressway, and then the road would send me right back on the same expressway. This happened three times in a row before I finally found an exit that lead into an actual neighborhood where I could stop and ask for better directions.
I was side-swiped by a car on the expressway at one point and saw my life flash before my eyes. Since rush hour was already starting before 5:00 p.m., and I didn't feel like dying, I gave up and spent the night at a motel. I left the next day at 10:30 a.m., which was as good as traffic was going to get, and it was still awful. I was lucky to find a cop who was hanging out at the motel, and he gave me directions on how to find my way back to GA-400 to get back home. The correct route was definitely NOT intuitive and he knew it, but told me to trust him. He told me he had family visiting him for the last week and how hard they found it to navigate the city.
This is really bizarre story. I don't know where you were, but a majority of business Buckhead is within 3/4 mile of the entrance to 400N. I drive extensively around this city, and haven't had these issues. Went almost up to the mountains and back today.
Buckhead actually can be a bit of a pain to navigate for anyone who isn't from the area or who doesn't know it fairly well. If you accidently get on GA-400 North you dont get a chance to get off till Glenridge which is pretty much right at the perimeter.
Buckhead actually can be a bit of a pain to navigate for anyone who isn't from the area or who doesn't know it fairly well. If you accidently get on GA-400 North you dont get a chance to get off till Glenridge which is pretty much right at the perimeter.
Likewise if you mistakenly get on 400 southbound you can't get off until Sidney Marcus. If you overshoot that you are suddenly in the huge tangle of I-85, Monroe Drive, and all that.
This is really bizarre story. I don't know where you were, but a majority of business Buckhead is within 3/4 mile of the entrance to 400N. I drive extensively around this city, and haven't had these issues. Went almost up to the mountains and back today.
It's different strokes for different folks. For some people this might not seem too challenging, but if you're not used to it the situation can be bewildering and overwhelming.
Atlanta has plenty of high income people, so that's not the problem. Atlanta was once a livable place, but it ruined itself and I don't think it can be salvaged.
Charlotte had a master plan that was created decades ago, and therein lies the difference.
I grew up in Miami, Florida, then spent 17 years in Dallas, Texas, so I've lived in large metro areas before. I now live in the mountains of North Georgia. Since moving to the mountains in 2001, I've had the odd trip to Atlanta over the years and feel I've witnessed an entire city continue to go downhill in livability with each passing year. It's because of poorly designed highways, roads, and bat**** insane traffic. It's the only place I've ever seen people drive 75 MPH bumper-to-bumper. Atlanta peeps have a major death wish.
I had to make a trip from the mountains down to Buckhead this week for a meeting. My appointment was for 11:00 a.m. in an attempt to avoid the worst of Atlanta's traffic. Yet, it was white knuckle driving even so. Buckhead has become so built up that some of the high rises remind me of fortresses. And somehow, there is something decayed about the place in spite of the flowers and landscaping. Lots of pot holes. The people are friendly, but the built environment is not.
When I left to go back home, the directions I was given were impossible to follow without being very familiar with the area. I ended up in a completely different part of Atlanta. Every time I tried to get off the wrong expressway, there was never any clear way to find a quiet street to regroup. I would get off the expressway, and then the road would send me right back on the same expressway. This happened three times in a row before I finally found an exit that lead into an actual neighborhood where I could stop and ask for better directions.
I was side-swiped by a car on the expressway at one point and saw my life flash before my eyes. Since rush hour was already starting before 5:00 p.m., and I didn't feel like dying, I gave up and spent the night at a motel. I left the next day at 10:30 a.m., which was as good as traffic was going to get, and it was still awful. I was lucky to find a cop who was hanging out at the motel, and he gave me directions on how to find my way back to GA-400 to get back home. The correct route was definitely NOT intuitive and he knew it, but told me to trust him. He told me he had family visiting him for the last week and how hard they found it to navigate the city.
It's not visitor-friendly design, if you can even use the word "design". It's just parts haphazardly cobbled together and as someone else mentioned, there are weird zig-zag lines embedded into the roads that defy logic. How did those get built in to the expressways?
I used to hate living in Dallas, Texas, but Atlanta makes Dallas look orderly and common sense in comparison. Atlanta had more to work with as far as it's natural environment of trees, but Dallas did better in infrastructure in spite of little natural beauty.
The experience was so awful that I made the decision that nothing in this world will ever induce me to visit Atlanta again in my lifetime. That probably sounds overly dramatic, but life is too short to endure such misery. I've read that "traffic" is the number one reason cited by companies that decide to relocate to other southern cities instead of Atlanta. I think so many people who live in Atlanta become hardened to it and don't realize how uninviting a place it's become.
A long long time ago, I thought Atlanta was very pretty overall. I even considered moving there once. The freeways and infrastructure have uglified the place beyond recognition, and it's too late to fix the structures that are now in place.
Most cities have bad pockets of traffic and bad infrastructure. Atlanta just doesn't have the nicer parts. You have to go outside the perimeter and I can only think of two or three places which are really all that nice. Dallas has many nice areas around it. It also has some ugly places.
It looks to me like what happened in Atlanta was the 2008 crisis really stung this area and in order to keep Atlanta from really falling apart, the once nice areas outside the city went down hill while some clusters like Decatur and Buckhead took the remaining people with money. I was in Florida most of this month. The roads and overall planning there in Orlando are far better, even with the massive construction around. Granted, lots of roads are toll roads. They also pay no state income tax.
There are a lot of just crooked roads that are two lanes all over this area, which force people around in cricles, really, which create massive jams where a few cross streets would solve the entire problem.
Most cities have bad pockets of traffic and bad infrastructure. Atlanta just doesn't have the nicer parts. You have to go outside the perimeter and I can only think of two or three places which are really all that nice. Dallas has many nice areas around it. It also has some ugly places.
It looks to me like what happened in Atlanta was the 2008 crisis really stung this area and in order to keep Atlanta from really falling apart, the once nice areas outside the city went down hill while some clusters like Decatur and Buckhead took the remaining people with money. I was in Florida most of this month. The roads and overall planning there in Orlando are far better, even with the massive construction around. Granted, lots of roads are toll roads. They also pay no state income tax.
There are a lot of just crooked roads that are two lanes all over this area, which force people around in cricles, really, which create massive jams where a few cross streets would solve the entire problem.
Atlanta has a number of nice ITP areas in addition to Buckhead and Decatur. Check out neighborhoods like Morningside, Ansley or Druid Hills. Or newer ones such as Cascade, East Cobb or North DeKalb. To me they are quite attractive and the homes there certainly fetch a pretty penny.
Likewise if you mistakenly get on 400 southbound you can't get off until Sidney Marcus. If you overshoot that you are suddenly in the huge tangle of I-85, Monroe Drive, and all that.
If you miss the Sidney Marcus exit and go southbound, the next exit isn't until you get to 75N or 10th/14th/17th street more than 3 miles down the road.
Most cities have bad pockets of traffic and bad infrastructure. Atlanta just doesn't have the nicer parts. You have to go outside the perimeter and I can only think of two or three places which are really all that nice. Dallas has many nice areas around it. It also has some ugly places.
If you miss the Sidney Marcus exit and go southbound, the next exit isn't until you get to 75N or 10th/14th/17th street more than 3 miles down the road.
Well, you are exactly right. I don't know who in tarnation designed that set up.
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