Augusta, Evans Martinez Georgia Area (Atlanta, Columbus: 2009, tenants, theatre)

[Carolinaresident]

I just came from augusta and notice the same thing about the traffic. It was horrible especially around I-20 and I-520. There was so much construction going on and too many drivers. I had to wait on 20 for over 30 mins to get about a mile. Augusta traffic is worse than charleston's, greenville, and columbia. For a city of Augusta's size the traffic was seriously bad like you mention. I went to the Augusta mall on a saturday while I was there and it had cars everywhere.

[DisgustaTruth]

The traffic in Augusta is so bad because it has an outdated freeway system.. that is in the process of being updated.. I20 and I520 uses mostly cloverleaf interchanges, which were designed for much lower traffic columes from over 40 years ago.. whereas cities like Macon and Columbus updated their major interchanges.. Augusta never did.. it is now finally getting around to modernizing the I20/520 interchanges with flyover ramps.. and of course the construction is making the traffic worse in the interim.. also the freeways are finally being widened to three lanes.

[starsweet]

Haha.. you are so right, the mall is ALWAYS packed, I can't think of a single time it isn't. I even avoid going there now, unless I go on a weekday.

Disgusta, that does make sense about the freeway system.. I wish they would speed up all the construction..

[johndoeboy]

The Augusta mall is always packed because of the new stores it landed. Nobody in georgia has to drive to atlanta anymore for these type of stores. So you have alot of people who don't live in augusta who come to shop at the mall. Nice try but the mall is even packed on weekdays like a monday or tuesday. The traffic pattern for augusta is normal most of the time. You may have been riding down 20 when a lane closure was going on. So that's why you had the long wait.

[DisgustaTruth]

Augusta has added some new upscale stores but still not to the level of Buckhead in Atlanta.. for premium shopping.. ppl will still have to drive to buckhead..

[johndoeboy]

Of course buckhead is a nice area in georgia. But people who live in athens, macon, savannah, or columbus may not want to deal with the atlanta traffic. So they can drive to augusta and find some of the same stores found only in atlanta.

[SeattletoAugusta]

I have never visited the augusta mall before. But i will have to stop by and visit when im in augusta next week.

[Noctur55]

Augustans really do think that they live in a boomtown. When asked by my son's principal how we liked this town, My wife responded politically " Its fine, just much smaller than we thought." Shocked, the principal said " Even with the spaghetti interchange?" I guess a new group of exits on the main highway makes this a real city now? Wow.

[johndoeboy]

That's ironic that you said its small than you thought. Usually people say augusta is bigger than they thought it was. Especially residents from atlanta who had never visited before. But i guess that's good you thought it was a major city already. The major city status is coming in the next 2 years. Augusta is booming with growth. The spaghetti interchange is only one project.

[DisgustaTruth]

Augusta is smaller than what the natives like to think it is. For the most part.. Augusta is mostly just a collection of bland generic suburbs.
This "spaghetti junction" they tout is similar to interchanges that have existed in Macon and Columbus for over 15 years.. and anyway.. I don't consider freeway interchanges to be the barometer of a vitality of a city.
Take downtown Augusta for example.. I was just down there a cpl of days ago.. a couple of new places have opened up.. but others have also closed.. I didn't notice a net gain in new restaurants or shops in downtown Augusta in the past 5 years. Dtimms Jazz Club--Closed, Bayou Cajun Restaurant--closed.. it caught on fire years ago and the building is still charred and boarded up, BlueHorse Tavern...closed, Hale Tiki Bar--closed, Mocha Delites coffeehouse--closed. The Miller Theater is still boarded up years after the guy who bought it claimed he was going to revitalise it. There are a few bright spots in downtown Augusta.. but mainly only about 2 blocks of Broad Street between 10th and 12th street...and those two blocks have just a few restaurants, a cpl of galleries (that close at 5:30pm) and a few bars.. that's about it.. the remainder of downtown is still mostly deserted.. aside from several wig shops and zoot suit stores.. lots of boarded up storefronts and mothballed buildings.. several in danger of collapsing. In the heart of the downtown is the Richmond Summit.. a seedy section 8 apartment building where the resident drunks gather..not a safe place to park your car.
Now compare this to Athens.. even though the metro Athens area is about 1/3 the size of metro Augusta.. the downtown has probably 3 times or more the number of restaurants, pubs, and shops.. an abandoned storefront in downtown Athens is a rarity.. in Augusta, it's the norm.