Augusta, Evans Martinez Georgia Area (buy, movie theater, closing)

[johndoeboy]

No city outside of atlanta has a spaghetti junction except for augusta now. Not only will it have fly overs but retention loops, storm loops, collector distributor lanes, overpasses, and a half diamond. Plus several new exits and widening lanes since hov lanes are in the I-20 plan by 2015. And these projects are just the one's on I-20 in richmond county. The miller theater is being develop right now. Its alot of construction all over the city especially downtown and I-20. When the forum and village at riverwatch open up in 2009 nobody will drive to atlanta anymore. Nobody from augusta really drives to atlanta anymore since augusta mall landed alot of new upscale stores. Only stores atlanta has in georgia and some stores than columbia doesn't have either.

[DisgustaTruth]

The interchange being built in Augusta is similar to ones in Macon and Columbus..

[cyclingintheson]

Originally Posted by DisgustaSucks

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.

Macon does NOT currently have an interchange like the new I-20/I-520 interchange however there is a new I-16/I-75 interchange PROPOSED for Macon within the next year or two that will be on the same scale as the new Augusta interchange.

[DisgustaTruth]

If the best thing your city has going for it is a freeway interchange.. then that's just sad.

[jmarkey]

I'm with you on that one. This whole "my interchange is better than your interchange" argument is kinda weird. All I see is that every tree within sight of the highway has been chopped down, construction and traffic are a mess and are going to stay that way for awhile, and the whole area is pretty ugly at the moment.

Don't get me wrong - I like Augusta a lot. But putting in a highway interchange probably won't bump it up on Forbes' Ten Best Places to Live.

[DisgustaTruth]

The area around Spaghetti junction In Atlanta at I85 and I285 aint exactly paradise.

[cyclingintheson]

Originally Posted by jmarkey

I'm with you on that one. This whole "my interchange is better than your interchange" argument is kinda weird. All I see is that every tree within sight of the highway has been chopped down, construction and traffic are a mess and are going to stay that way for awhile, and the whole area is pretty ugly at the moment.

Don't get me wrong - I like Augusta a lot. But putting in a highway interchange probably won't bump it up on Forbes' Ten Best Places to Live.

Have you been to the Augusta Mall lately? Not to mention the new Earth Fare in Evans, Oh by the way we just got a new P.F. Changs oh yeah there are new shopping centers along I-20. You all must not have been in Augusta for a while or you would realize that it is not just the I-20 construction that is going on in the CSRA. These type of developments do not just build any where. There is Growth in the CSRA or they would not invest here. I know we are not Atlanta so I dont expect a Lennox or Philips type development but compared to Greenville and Columbia, I think we are on the same level as them.

[jmarkey]

I'm sorry you misunderstood my post. As I said, I live in the Augusta area and like it very much. I sure didn't mean to ruffle any feathers. I enjoy all the places you mentioned in your post, except P.F. Chang's. Haven't gotten there yet.

Nowhere in my post did I say interstate highway construction was the only thing going on in the CSRA.

[DisgustaTruth]

Last time I was in Augusta(a week ago) what I noticed was more of the same.. Sorry but I guess a PF Changs or another Starbucks really doesn't excite me as much as it does you. The Mall lifestyle center that ppl keep hyping was truly underwhelming.. only a few of the stores were even open for business.. and I noticed many of the same nearly abandoned strip malls like The Augusta West Center were looking worse.. I hear the Barnes and Noble is leaving there for the Augusta mall lifestyle center..
The National Hills Center is nearly desolate.. The Fresh Market looked like it was on life support. And I am just not of the belief that another strip mall, chain restaurant, or starbucks is what makes a city great.
There were a couple of new restaurants on Broad St.. but I also noticed that many were gone too.. The 1100 block had some activity and improvement but most of the rest of Broad Street looked as desolate as it did 5 years ago.. The problem with Augusta, as it always has been.. that any progress moves at a glacial pace. There is no comparison with downtown Greenville and downtown Augusta.. the two are worlds apart.. Maybe one day Augusta will get to the point where Greenville is.. but as it looks now.. that's a longway off.

[PJA]

Firstly I don't know what Augusta you went to. The Augusta West shopping Center is nearly filled to capacity with only like 2 small vacant stores and that theatre that closed. Most of the stores in the Augusta Mall lifestyle addition are opened. There are more businesses downtown than there were a year ago. The National Hills shopping center is moving tenants because they're getting ready to renovate which has been planned for some time now. And you must have went downtown like 4 in the morning because it's far from desloate..so much so that parking is becoming a big concern.