Highway Question: Driving to GA from HSV (Birmingham, Mobile: home, to live in)

[caution]

Hello.

If you had to drive from HSV to central Georgia (think Macon, like in the middle) how would you go?

Google maps says to ride up to Chattanooga on 2/72 then ride down 75 through ATL and on down around Macon.

I'm thinking it would be better to run down to I-85 ( through Anniston, on 431 / 1, all the way down to West Point) and then hit the back roads I'm familiar with after crossing over in to GA (from a long time ago when I'd come from TX or LA to GA along I-10 to Mobile then I-64-85)

I know those cities along the state road have probably grown up a good bit, but I also know I-75 ain't a picnic.

I won't be trying to drive fast. I just wonder if anyone has gone either way (not that there's a good reason to venture into central GA other than family or maybe pick up a huntin' dog :-P )

[kygman]

We've driven 75 from Chattanooga to Warner-Robins, south of Macon several time to visit family. I would love a way to go without driving through Atlanta, but this is the shortest way. I checked the route you were talking about in Google. Did you know you can move the line of your route and check another way to go? Just click on the blue line and move it to where you want it. The way you're talking about is 301 miles and 5 hours. Pull the line down to Birmingham and I-20 and across and it's 329 and about 10 minutes longer. Looks like 6 of one and half dozen of the other.

[boilrmkr]

We drive through Birmingham, up to Atlanta and down to Savannah. I think going through Chattanooga takes the same amount of time.

[caution]

sounds fair enough. i did that line-dragging thing and saw the route i wanted to take added an hour (if I went state roads to West Point, then back roads to middle GA)

Thanks for the feedback.

[mm42]

I would go through Mentone to Atlanta (the fastest route) and then to Macon from there. Estimate 4.5 hours for this route.

Going through Chattanooga adds 25 minutes or more depending on traffic, but it's a lot harder to get lost.

[Mawoods]

We have driven this route for the last year. I-65 to I 20 toward Atlanta and then I75 south. Not as pretty but straight ahead.

[harry chickpea]

IMO, the traffic going into Atlanta from the north is far worse than coming in from I-20. I've driven the Mentone route both ways, and used to drive from B'ham to Atlanta on almost a weekly basis. If I was going to hit the north end of Atlanta at 3AM, or wanted to see the Mentone scenery, I might choose that route. Otherwise 65 to I-20 is much more reliable, a bit safer, and likely faster.

[deesonic]

Avoiding driving through Atlanta while passing through Georgia is like trying to get through life without ever getting chicken pox. When we used to live in Savannah and would come home to visit, we'd pass through Macon (I-16 to I-75) and north through Atlanta, and take the Adairsville exit. From there you follow the wacky backroads through Summerville, Mentone, Valley Head, Henegar, to Scottsboro (US 72). If the weather was bad we'd just go through Chattanooga to stay on the big roads. I hate 431 and never go that way. Way too many traffic lights in Guntersville, Albertville, Boaz, Attalla, Gadsden, Anniston, and Oxford. Going through Birmingham seems way out of the way and then you have yet one more big city with bad traffic to deal with.

[autobahn]

Ditto - route through Mentone/Summerville is the best way to Atlanta.

[Southlander]

I've driven several ways over the years from Decatur to Atlanta or vice-versa. The first years we were married and lived in Atlanta, and I-20 ended about Villa Rica and didn't pick up again until Anniston.

I've taken Alabama 67 east out of Decatur, then through Gadsden...skipping around through Centre and Cedartown...up to Chattanooga and then down through Cartersville (which took FOREVER).

I still find I-65 to Birmingham and then I-20 to Atlanta the quickest and easiest way.