I-75/I-85 Connector Transformation (Atlanta, Dallas: chapel, neighborhoods, school)

[WanderingImport]

Originally Posted by Gnutella

Let's beautify the Downtown Connector by installing a bunch of brand-new, mostly-blank signs like they have along I-85!

What mostly blank signs are you talking about??

[K-SawDude]

IMPORTANT (Feedback requested!)

The connector transportation folks have put together a survey asking Atlanta residents and enthusiasts for their impressions of different design elements (such as greenery, lighting, art, etc.) along the midtown-downtown connector. More information, including a link to the survey, can be found here:

I-75/85 Connector Vision

Make your opinions heard!

[AnsleyPark]

Originally Posted by K-SawDude

IMPORTANT (Feedback requested!)

The connector transportation folks have put together a survey asking Atlanta residents and enthusiasts for their impressions of different design elements (such as greenery, lighting, art, etc.) along the midtown-downtown connector. More information, including a link to the survey, can be found here:

I-75/85 Connector Vision

Make your opinions heard!

Cool - thanks, K-Saw! There were actually some rather attractive ideas in the survey. Now, I ain't so sure about the mural of the gigantic eyes...

[K-SawDude]

Originally Posted by AnsleyPark

Cool - thanks, K-Saw! There were actually some rather attractive ideas in the survey. Now, I ain't so sure about the mural of the gigantic eyes...

That was the only one I gave a 1 to. So creepy!!!

(I *like* the idea of public and cool art, of course. But that was out of some weird Eastern European Big Brother Universe or something!)

[mike7586]

I'm not so sure planting a bunch of trees will be a good thing considering we get a lot of storms and if trees fall onto the road it's just going to create a bigger problem.

They should keep it simple... greening the walls would be nice, adding cool lighting to the tunnels and bridges, and landscaping/maintaining the interchanges similar to what Gwinnett did on I-85 would look nice. I also like the plan for renovating the Peachtree Street bridge over the connector and adding a park.

[RandyWatson13]

Originally Posted by K-SawDude

IMPORTANT (Feedback requested!)

The connector transportation folks have put together a survey asking Atlanta residents and enthusiasts for their impressions of different design elements (such as greenery, lighting, art, etc.) along the midtown-downtown connector. More information, including a link to the survey, can be found here:

I-75/85 Connector Vision

Make your opinions heard!

Repped, thanks!

[bu2]

Originally Posted by Saintmarks

I always wanted to remedy the merging of 85 and 75 and rip the connector apart to help traffic flow better... well, rip apart in name only, the current connector would stay 75. I wanted 85 to go west at the Brookwood merger and then loop south on the west side of downtown, probably overlaying Northside drive, then continue south parallel to 75 to the airport. 20 and Lakewood Fwy would connect the two to the south. This would give a full freeway ring around downtown like both Dallas and Houston have.

But so much development has come since (Atlantic Station, World Congress CTR, GA Dome, etc) that you really couldn't do this now.

I think its still very doable. Unless its separate express lanes, adding lanes to the connector will have minimal impact. Undoing the connector mistake when Georgia took the cheap route is better. There's space north of Atlantic Station. There is plenty of undeveloped and under developed land west of Northside Drive. The "new" 85 could use Ft. McPherson's western side to connect to the Lakewood Fwy which would become the new 85 to 285 where it would rejoin the existing 85.

This would also have the benefit of freeing traffic around Hartsfield which is Atlanta's most important transportation asset.

[testa50]

I'm sorry, but building a parallel interstate to the connector is not ever going to happen, nor should it. We need to accept that the majority of our urban roadbuilding has been done. We instead need to focus on (1) expanding other transit options for urban areas and (2) developing better planning for road/transit access in areas that are not yet urban but are getting there, such as Perimeter. Building a new interstate within the city limits is going to be another Big Dig.

Downtowns don't need to have impeccable interstate access to thrive. New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco all have far worse interstate access than we do in their downtown areas, but their downtowns are far more vibrant and bustling. And it's not like the Texas cities are beating them, despite the loops around which suburban commuters can zoom.

[architect77]

Originally Posted by testa50

I'm sorry, but building a parallel interstate to the connector is not ever going to happen, nor should it. We need to accept that the majority of our urban roadbuilding has been done. We instead need to focus on (1) expanding other transit options for urban areas and (2) developing better planning for road/transit access in areas that are not yet urban but are getting there, such as Perimeter. Building a new interstate within the city limits is going to be another Big Dig.

Downtowns don't need to have impeccable interstate access to thrive. New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco all have far worse interstate access than we do in their downtown areas, but their downtowns are far more vibrant and bustling. And it's not like the Texas cities are beating them, despite the loops around which suburban commuters can zoom.

A parallel alternate highway to 75/85 is mandatory, necessary, and inevitable. The downtown connector is the most visible, important, and most economically vital corridor in the entire State.

For over a decade the State has turned a blind eye to traffic stopped in both directions at any given time of the day. This indifference has already hurt the state's economy through companies not relocating here.

The largest state east of the mississppi, the poster child of sprawl with "exurban" counties and their commuters, cannot forever depend on a single highway for north-south travel, which was designed for the 2.5 million people in Atlanta in 1989. In 2040 the 8.3 million poeple here cannot only have the downtown connector for north-south travel, which also must be shared with heavy out-of state motorists.

Atlanta's one loop intersecting a few radial multi-state interstates is grossly inadequate for a population that's doubled and will continue to grow in all directions.

An alternate to relieve the 75/85 connector isn't to "make a great downtown" like NY, SF, it's to accommodate the millions of people traversing the region in all directions. It's absurd that 3 million people in the northern counties cannot travel amongst one another unless they head down to Atlanta to use I-285. North Carolina would have built 3 loops around Atlanta by now. There are so many roads in NC, you can go anywhere 5 different ways.

Your argument about mass transit and livable cities cannot be cut and pasted to apply to metro Atlanta. Someone going from Norcoss to Jonesboro (and thousands probably do everyday) cannot stop, park, and use MARTA through central Atlanta, then be carless unable to arrive at their destination.

You're dreaming if you think Atlanta will ever put forth the effort to build a decent city infrastructure. I walk everywhere and see firsthand the utter neglect in every aspect. Sometimes it's all they can do to keep the electricity on here.

GDOT has done nothing to plan for the region's future mobility. Arterials improvements, a complete doubling of Atlanta's highway system, conversion to superstreets, should all be being built for the 8.3 million future residents.

In North Carolina, urban loops and hundreds of miles of new highways are being built as we speak. High speed rail improvements are being built as we speak. Every US and NC highway corridor through the cities and across the state has fully laid out improvement plans implemented in stages well into the future. As expected NC will retake its historical lead in population in the Southeast in a couple of years. Georgia became #1 in 2000 and still is by 200,000.

Oh, and NYC's fabulous livability is made possible by the MTA (Subway), which is the 5th largest debtor in the country, behind Calif, Mass. State of NY, NYC. It owes $30 billion, and it would cost about $8 per ride on the NYC subway to cover the actual cost of the trip. SF's new bay bridge is costing about $4 Billion and will have $5 tolls in both directions. The 5 boroughs of NYC have 3 times as many interstates as Atlanta with more total mileage. The Bay Area also has far more interstates than Atlanta.

75/85 should be double-decked, add a viaduct for thru traffic, or some existing road bypassing downtown should be converted to an expressway.

By not building alternatives to Atlanta's one big simple layout of highways, what happens is the cost of improving the GA400/I-285 interchange becomes astronomical, $500 million (as per next year's sales tax referendum) for improvements to that one interchange, necessary because everybody and their brother is being funneled through one interchange. Doesn't have to be like this.

[testa50]

You're arguing in favor of a brand new, miles-long freeway going through the central city and I'm the one that's dreaming?

It is never going to happen. Why not spend your time and energy focusing on suburban road improvements that are actually possible? The idea that I'm opposed to new suburban interstates is a strawman: I'm absolutely not.