When will Metro Augusta reach 600,000 (Atlanta, Columbus: live in, airport, safety)

[MantaRay]

Originally Posted by nortonguy

MantayRay..... The Savannah River Pkwy is completed. They may still be doing some finishing touches and site work though.

They must have really gotten moving then, because when I drove it this past May on my way to Florida, there were still several places where two directions were forced onto the same side of highway as the other side was barricaded off for construction purposes. That was just a little over 3 months ago. It was most of the way finished, though. But it's been worked on forever it seems like.

[MantaRay]

Originally Posted by Augustabuckeye

Are we talking the same thing? A divided HIGHWAY, 2+ lanes each way, limitied access, Interstate type road going from Savannah to Augusta and beyond?

Or are you talking about the re-do of Rt 25 South out of Augusta towards Statesboro???

The "re-do." Not sure if the I3 proposal turns the intersections into on/off ramps or not. But as for now, they are still intersections. But the Waynesboro section is much better than it used to be, much more "straight through" than before. Although the Millen part still detracts from it, as you have to go right through town with 30mph and stop lights. That's not so "parkway like."

[lilmusket]

This Sav River Pkwy is a joke.. I remember when they were touting it more than 25 years ago.. and here we are in 2009 and it's still not 100% completely finished and we were also lead to believe back then this was going to be something like a limited access interstate hwy. It's not folks, it still has numerous intersections with stoplights. The main difference is now it's four lanes..but they route they chose is not the most direct. It is still faster to go through SC to get to Savannah. I took this Sav River Pkwy down to Sav just last month, it still took 3+ hours to get there.. coming back via the more direct SC route shave nearly 25 mins from my drive.

[MantaRay]

Originally Posted by lilmusket

I took this Sav River Pkwy down to Sav just last month, it still took 3+ hours to get there..

WOW. It took me somehwere around 2.5 when I drove it back in May. Of course I tended to try to maintain 65mph on it and 75 on I16, which I thought were reasonable speeds for those stretches. 3+ hours sounds awfully long.

[Akhenaton06]

Originally Posted by MantaRay

Actually there is considerable mixed-use zoning already in place in anticipation of Palmetto, "along the interstate between Augusta and Columbia." And in case you didn't know, mixed-use zoning is sort of the antithesis of cookie-cutter houses and strip malls.

How far will that zoning extend? Certainly not the entire length of I-20 between Augusta and Columbia; probably only a short stretch within Aiken County.

[Akhenaton06]

Originally Posted by MantaRay

Probably the fact that state governments in other states have fostered considerable growth in multiple cities, ie. North Carolina has a Charlotte AND a Raleigh, Tennessee has a Nashville AND a Memphis, South Carolina has a Columbia AND a Charleston. There isn't really a huge drop-off from those states' #1 city to their #2 city. Georgia is the opposite- a behemoth in Atlanta with the rest of the state having been practically neglected for growth in recent decades. That is starting to change as of a couple years ago, but heck, I think even the Savannah River Parkway is still being worked on after something like 6 years or whatever. Atlanta has historically been quick to get state spending/investment with the rest of the 2nd tier GA cities being very slow to get state spending. So the Georgia state government (Atlanta) needs to share the wealth.

In addition to what lilmusket stated, the only state that played more of a direct role in fostering growth in two or more areas was North Carolina (the loosening of the banking laws helped Charlotte and the creation of RTP helped Raleigh). As far as South Carolina and Tennessee go, the state didn't really do anything to purposely create similarly-sized cities in those states. Atlanta's growth is mainly the result of private business investment, being a transportation hub, and visionary leadership. The most the state of Georgia could have historically done is maybe make Macon or Valdosta the state capital.

[MantaRay]

Originally Posted by Akhenaton06

How far will that zoning extend? Certainly not the entire length of I-20 between Augusta and Columbia; probably only a short stretch within Aiken County.

In the immediate areas around the Palmetto Parkway and at the US25/I20 interchange, there is an abundance of mixed use zoning. I seriously doubt there will be much growth along I20 past the Aiken area, so zoning out in the sticks between Aiken and Columbia won't matter.

[MantaRay]

Originally Posted by Akhenaton06

As far as South Carolina and Tennessee go, the state didn't really do anything to purposely create similarly-sized cities in those states.

You've got to be joking. Charleston and Columbia and Greenville/Spartanburg have grown with state efforts as a part of the mix. Tennessee played a huge role in Nashville and Memphis growing lately and gaining in amenities to encourage growth.

Mayors are often seen going to state government and working with state government to accomplish growth. This means that state help is QUITE important in fostering city growth. State investment will go a LONG way in spurring CSRA growth.

[Hot_Mike]

Get Augusta I-3, that all we need from the state of GA. The CSRA is an island.

[Akhenaton06]

Originally Posted by MantaRay

You've got to be joking. Charleston and Columbia and Greenville/Spartanburg have grown with state efforts as a part of the mix. Tennessee played a huge role in Nashville and Memphis growing lately and gaining in amenities to encourage growth.

Mayors are often seen going to state government and working with state government to accomplish growth. This means that state help is QUITE important in fostering city growth. State investment will go a LONG way in spurring CSRA growth.

I didn't say those cities didn't get state help. But what I'm saying is that SC nor TN state leaders didn't have a meeting one day in 1945 and say, "We need to have at least two mid-sized to large, similarly-sized metros in our state because we don't want to be like Georgia where Atlanta looks like it's going to hog it all. What are we going to do about it?"

Furthermore, the state can't do anything if private companies don't do anything first. The state of Georgia can't give Macon or Columbus incentives for a company that's not setting up operations there. The fact is that as far as SC and TN is concerned, large private companies have operations throughout those states that are more or less evenly spread, whereas in GA, such companies disproportionately gravitate towards metro Atlanta.