What city will Atlanta consume/merge with first?

[lilmusket]

Jrescue.. I think you hit the nail on the head.
Atlanta is already one of the most sprawling metro areas in the country, but to sprawl out 140 miles in one direction (which is the distance to Augusta) is just insane. Even New York City and Los Angeles don't sprawl out that far.
I think metro Atlanta has sprawled out about as much as it can... the trend in the future will be people moving closer in, not farther out. I can think of no worse nightmare for Georgia than the entire area between Atlanta and Augusta, Macon and Columbus being suburban sprawl. This is not something we should desire.

[LuluBelle25]

Like the comment above, I think those areas/cities close to Atlanta will keep their independence, but if I had to choose a city/town that should be incorporated with the metro area maybe Douglasville, Carrollton or I-20 W area.

[lilmusket]

I can see the entire stretch between Atlanta and Athens becoming suburbanized, but both cities would retain their seperate identies and basically you would just have two seprate metro areas meeting together... sort of the way Washington, DC and Baltimore do... but both are distinctly seprate metro areas.