State scraps plans for HOT lanes on 75 & 575 (Atlanta, Marietta: construction, contractors)

[billl]

Originally Posted by gtcorndog

I'm all for expanding the heavy rail, but that isn't going to help the drive up I-75 and I-575 past Woodstock (unless you plan on building 30 miles of heavy rail up that way which would easily take 50% of the 10 year revenue expected from the TSPLOST).

There's already rail running up that way. It probably needs some improvements, but the big trick is getting CSX to allow its use for passenger trains.

[gt6974a]

You could run a rail line all the way from Acworth/Woodstock to Atlanta and it wouldn't alleviate that much traffic. It'd help people heading to the airport and maybe some others if you had a straight shot to Buckhead w/o having to go to midtown first. Other than that, I don't see people hopping off the train and being able to get to their actual place of employment easily.

There is no traffic on 75 once you get inside the perimeter and until you hit the connector, which is a major issue I had with the now failed 'light rail' from Cumberland to midtown.

I take the Express bus from Acworth every day and I think you'd have to get ridership up on that before justifying the cost of putting a rail line/light rail line in.

If you want to alleviate traffic, approve the $$$, and eventually get people to jump on board major transportation projects just put in an HOV lane from the perimeter to Acworth/Woodstock then come back to the rail argument in a couple years.

[gtcorndog]

Originally Posted by billl

There's already rail running up that way. It probably needs some improvements, but the big trick is getting CSX to allow its use for passenger trains.

Which is
a) not going to happen
and
b) wouldn't have an impact big enough to make a dent.

[ATLTJL]

Having the proposed line that goes from Doraville up to Gwinnett Arena with a bunch of stops in between makes the most sense.

That line would pull ridership from as far east as Snellville and Stone Mountain, as far north as Buford and Sugar Hill, and as far west as Johns Creek.

I-85 is probably the worst clogged artery, so it makes sense to alleviate it first.

[architect77]

Start building an outer loop and/or alternative arterial highways to complement/relieve existing interstates.

Please refrain from coming back with "More Roads Merely Increases Traffic". The goal is to add capacity across the region. The existing highways were designed for a metro population of about 3 million people. They are not adequate for 6-8 million residents we'll have over the next 30 years.

[ATLTJL]

I would only be for an outer loop if all trucks were required to use it.

[brownhornet]

Originally Posted by architect77

Start building an outer loop and/or alternative arterial highways to complement/relieve existing interstates.

Please refrain from coming back with "More Roads Merely Increases Traffic". The goal is to add capacity across the region. The existing highways were designed for a metro population of about 3 million people. They are not adequate for 6-8 million residents we'll have over the next 30 years.

Hooray for another loop and even more sprawl.

[mike7586]

Some food for thought... this project was the ONLY major project in the works for at least the next 5-10 years (assuming the transportation referendum fails). So if the transportation tax is voted down next year, this means we will be doing pretty much nothing for the next 5-10 years... maybe some re-paving, state route widenings, etc. but nothing significant. Now compare that to what North Carolina has planned in the next 5-10 years, for example, and our situation is pretty sad.

How do we expect to get out of this recession ahead of the pack and grow if we do nothing?? I hope some of you on the fence about this transportation referendum consider this.

[architect77]

Originally Posted by brownhornet

Hooray for another loop and even more sprawl.

You need to go back and really think about what the sprawl discussion was all about before using it as a soundbite reply to every discussion about transportation.

Bypasses and turnpikes exist all over the US, with hundreds from NC to NJ that don't have any sprawl development along side them. The NJ Turnpike for one, and Raleigh's Outerloop remains practically rural-looking, etc.

If you don't like sprawl, how about double-decking some of the existing freeways or building an elevated viaduct beside them? Or how about taking an existing corridor like GA-20 and upgrading it for higher speed, more capacity?

How about refraining from bashing every idea unless you have a better one that's realistic?

[atl85]

The HOT lane project wasn't dropped because of the issues on 85. If that were the case why would the state be pursuing HOT lanes on I-75 in the Jonesboro area?