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Old 04-03-2007, 03:35 PM
 
2 posts, read 7,426 times
Reputation: 10

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Hi folks,

I am going to be relocating to the Lawrenceville area. I'm going to extend my job search out to the eastern part of Atlanta - for example, the Emory University area. I keep reading about how bad the traffic is on 85 / 75, etc. Coming from New Jersey, I'm trying to get a frame of reference, and traffic here is pretty horrendous as well. Can anyone give me some feedback - local folks, others who have relocated, etc? Your feedback is much appreciated.

Thanks!
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Old 04-03-2007, 04:47 PM
 
Location: Techified Blue (Collar)-Rooted Bastion-by-the-Sea
663 posts, read 1,856,394 times
Reputation: 599
Quote:
Originally Posted by NJtoGAsoon View Post
Hi folks,

I am going to be relocating to the Lawrenceville area. I'm going to extend my job search out to the eastern part of Atlanta - for example, the Emory University area. I keep reading about how bad the traffic is on 85 / 75, etc. Coming from New Jersey, I'm trying to get a frame of reference, and traffic here is pretty horrendous as well. Can anyone give me some feedback - local folks, others who have relocated, etc? Your feedback is much appreciated.

Thanks!
I would say that you should be prepared for traffic whenever you are considering moving to a big city (metro area). I cannot compare directly with NJ, but a lot of NJ's problems I think are due to over-capacity (not enough lanes) highways, population density, and toll roads. Most of those are not issues in Atlanta (only GA400). Some issues are that everyone drives here, and the wider freeways encourage this. I would say the traffic around here is typical for a large metro area (5 million) that is sprawled out the way it is. Its not as bad as L.A. if you know how traffic is like there, so there's nothing nightmarish to worry about.
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Old 04-04-2007, 09:00 AM
 
Location: West Cobb County, GA (Atlanta metro)
9,191 posts, read 33,765,959 times
Reputation: 5308
It's going to vary just like any large city. There are going to be days where the traffic is tolerable, and other days when there are accidents when it will take you two hours to drive 8 miles. It's very unpredictable.

Atlanta is one of those cities where you not only have people migrating here from all over the country, but from all over the world as well (bringing their VERY varied driving habits with them as well). So at any given time on the interstates around town, you're surrounded by residents who are used to it, small town transplants who are completely freaked out, larger city people who think it's a breeze, and foreigners who can't read the road signs - on TOP of tourists and an army of semi truck drivers. Yes, it's nerve-wracking.

There actually have been posts here and there online from people who are from L.A. though, and comments have been made that there ARE some areas that do compare to L.A. traffic (top-end perimeter during rush maybe?), but people have also compared it to New York, Washington, and Houston as well - so only your own experience is going to determine how close the comparisons are.

Rule of thumb: If you're only going to be working a temp job, just grin and bear it. If you're taking a job that at least SEEMS to be long terms and stable (as stable as can be in this day and age), then try to move as close to work as possible.
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Old 04-04-2007, 09:06 AM
LLD
 
Location: Fairfax County, VA
654 posts, read 3,063,464 times
Reputation: 224
I posted this in another thread but thought I would repeat it here just for comparison purposes to traffic in other cities and because this thread is specifically about traffic.

Worst cities for traffic as listed in Forbes last year:

1. Los Angeles, Long Beach, Santa Ana, Calif.

2. San Francisco, Oakland, Calif.

3. Washington, D.C.

4. Atlanta

5. Houston

6. Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, Tex.

7. Chicago.

8. Detroit

9. Riverside, San Bernardino, Calif.

9. Orlando, Fla.

11. San Jose, Calif.

12. San Diego
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Old 04-04-2007, 05:13 PM
 
2 posts, read 7,426 times
Reputation: 10
Thanks for your responses. As I said, not being familiar with the area, I have no real frame of reference for how bad the traffic is, and some of the posts I've read make me think it's horrendous. I guess it's all a matter of perspective. If I'm planning on working somewhere on the eastern side of Atlanta - Emory University, CDC, etc., and planning to live on the outskirts there - Lawrenceville area, could someone give me an idea of how long of a commute that might be? Again, much thanks - the responses have been helpful.
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Old 04-04-2007, 05:18 PM
 
1,088 posts, read 6,324,560 times
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Lawrenceville to Emory is about a 40 minute drive during non rush so my guess would be you would average about an hour during rush hour. Just a guess though I don't commute on the NE side of town.
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Old 04-05-2007, 12:48 AM
 
Location: Port Hueneme, CA
283 posts, read 1,190,104 times
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Well in my personal experience it never really bothered me growing up there and being able to adapt as it has continued to get worse over the years. I now live just outside LA and like many of the people on here have no clue what NJ traffic is like but I think traffic is easier to manage here than in ATL. It may be worse at certain times of the day but is predictable. ATL traffic like someone has already said is very unpredictable. I made the same trip (27 miles) from Locust Grove to Morrow the last year I was there and on a good day it only took an hour but frequently took 3 or 4 hours. I didn't travel through Lawerenceville area very often but made at 8-10 trips there a year for real estate closings and I always gave myself 6 hours to ensure I arrived on time. I think that the worst areas of traffic are at interstate intersections which is why Henry County that I lived in was so bad. I normally was able to move around that area pretty well though only having one real bad traffic experience there. I have no clue what happened to make it so bad that one day but I was stuck on the road for 9.5 hrs trying to get back home. I85 never seemed to be quite as bad to me when I lived on that side but it was also off and on in Tyrone from 1979 to 1996.
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