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I would take Chastain over Barrett to make this connection anyway. If you are coming from points further north, GA 92 is four laned between the two and makes a better connection than going this far south.
I've done both. If I-75/575 is moving then 92 is usually slower due to all the traffic lights.
Usually when I'm going to or from points northwest it's either a weekend or late at night. So I tend to just stay on the freeway rather than consider 92.
Hwy 20 is also a good alternative if you're trying to get between Woodstock/Holly Springs/Canton and anything north of Adairsville.
Having drivers pay the cost of the roads they are driving on helps MARTA. If people realize how much the roads really cost they will reconsider their choice of transportation and living so far away.
This is a good point.
Though the cost of transportation is not always necessarily the deciding factor in how far away from work people decide to live.
Besides the costs of transportation (gas, user fees, tolls, transit fares, length of commute, etc), other factors that figure heavily into where people decide to live in relation to where they work include the quality of schools, crime, and the costs of housing.
The cost of housing is especially key in larger metro regions like Los Angeles and New York where the terms "drive-'til-you-qualify" (in Los Angeles and Southern California) and "ride-til-you-qualify" (in New York and the Tri-State Area) are commonly used to describe how far away from the city center one may have to drive on the freeway (in L.A.) or ride on a rail transit line (in N.Y.) until they can find an area where they may be able to afford a quality home in a quality area.
The terms "drive-'til-you-qualify" and/or "ride-'til-you-qualify" are terms that Metro Atlantans (who have long been accustomed to having home prices that are much more affordable than larger metro regions like L.A. and Southern California and the Northeastern Corridor (DC, Philly, NY-NJ, Boston, etc)) could potentially become more acquainted with in future years as the Atlanta metro region continues to grow in population and the amount of affordable housing close to the urban core potentially shrinks.
Though the cost of transportation is not always necessarily the deciding factor in how far away from work people decide to live.
Besides the costs of transportation (gas, user fees, tolls, transit fares, length of commute, etc), other factors that figure heavily into where people decide to live in relation to where they work include the quality of schools, crime, and the costs of housing.
The cost of housing is especially key in larger metro regions like Los Angeles and New York where the terms "drive-'til-you-qualify" (in Los Angeles and Southern California) and "ride-til-you-qualify" (in New York and the Tri-State Area) are commonly used to describe how far away from the city center one may have to drive on the freeway (in L.A.) or ride on a rail transit line (in N.Y.) until they can find an area where they may be able to afford a quality home in a quality area.
The terms "drive-'til-you-qualify" and/or "ride-'til-you-qualify" are terms that Metro Atlantans (who have long been accustomed to having home prices that are much more affordable than larger metro regions like L.A. and Southern California and the Northeastern Corridor (DC, Philly, NY-NJ, Boston, etc)) could potentially become more acquainted with in future years as the Atlanta metro region continues to grow in population and the amount of affordable housing close to the urban core potentially shrinks.
Sure transportation costs are not the only factor but since it is so subsidized people rarely give it a second thought to moving dozens of miles from work ("drive-'til-you-qualify"). A hundred years ago before we heavily subsidized super highways and gas people never would have considered living so far away, even though cheap cars existed (Model T cost $550 in 1913, $13K in today's dollars).
We need to stop subsidizing people to move further away from their jobs. Let them find the right mix of how close they want to live to work on their own. Some may choose to spend it commuting, some may choose to spend it on rent.
More lanes are not the answer. the $800M could be better spent upgrading the rail in the NW corridor and implement commuter rail.
You're right that more lanes are not answer, and more lanes will not be the answer alone as the I-75/I-575 toll lanes are intended to be the first in a series of transportation improvements over the very long-term that will include upgraded commuter bus service (likely within the next decade) and the implementation of both commuter rail and heavy rail service in the I-75/I-575 Northwest Corridor at some undetermined point in the future (likely within the next 2-3 decades).
It's just that at this particular point in time, that I-75/I-575 Northwest geographical corridor (Cobb and Cherokee counties), which continues to be dominated by strong, but rapidly-shrinking and declining anti-transit interests, is not just yet politically or socially ready for that kind of large investment in non-automobile modes of transportation.
Though the I-75/I-575 toll lanes are clearly nowhere near being the final answer for all of the transportation issues that plague the Cobb-Cherokee Northwest Corridor, the I-75/I-575 toll lanes are quite literally the ONLY thing that is "coming down the pike" (so-to-speak) in the foreseeable future.
After being on the drawingboard for about the past 30 years in various and different forms ranging from unfunded untolled HOV-2 lanes, to a maximum freeway expansion that included tolled truck lanes and tolled carpool lanes, to privately-funded tolled carpool lanes that disallowed the construction of any other transportation alternatives in the corridor, to the current proposal we see now, the I-75/I-575 toll lanes are seemingly finally ready to be constructed and are the ONLY thing that is anywhere near ready to be implemented in that congested corridor and will be the only thing that is anywhere near ready to be implemented for many years.
You're right that more lanes are not answer, and more lanes will not be the answer alone as the I-75/I-575 toll lanes are intended to be the first in a series of transportation improvements over the very long-term that will include upgraded commuter bus service (likely within the next decade) and the implementation of both commuter rail and heavy rail service in the I-75/I-575 Northwest Corridor at some undetermined point in the future (likely within the next 2-3 decades).
It's just that at this particular point in time, that I-75/I-575 Northwest geographical corridor (Cobb and Cherokee counties), which continues to be dominated by strong, but rapidly-shrinking and declining anti-transit interests, is not just yet politically or socially ready for that kind of large investment in non-automobile modes of transportation.
Though the I-75/I-575 toll lanes are clearly nowhere near being the final answer for all of the transportation issues that plague the Cobb-Cherokee Northwest Corridor, the I-75/I-575 toll lanes are quite literally the ONLY thing that is "coming down the pike" (so-to-speak) in the foreseeable future.
After being on the drawingboard for about the past 30 years in various and different forms ranging from unfunded untolled HOV-2 lanes, to a maximum freeway expansion that included tolled truck lanes and tolled carpool lanes, to privately-funded tolled carpool lanes that disallowed the construction of any other transportation alternatives in the corridor, to the current proposal we see now, the I-75/I-575 toll lanes are seemingly finally ready to be constructed and are the ONLY thing that is anywhere near ready to be implemented in that congested corridor and will be the only thing that is anywhere near ready to be implemented for many years.
I think commuter rail using existing rail lines is much more doable in the shorter term for counties like Cobb.
The topography of that area would make this very difficult. The ridge that comes off of Kennesaw Mountain is intersected just north of where these two divide. The angle back to the north would make any ramps have to do close to a full 180, tons of earth and rock would have to be negotiated, and for what? A very small percentage of the traffic flow?
I would take Chastain over Barrett to make this connection anyway. If you are coming from points further north, GA 92 is four laned between the two and makes a better connection than going this far south.
An oft-forgotten geographical feature in North Cobb County--Brushy Mountain (with an American Civil War skirmish to go along with it).
I think commuter rail using existing rail lines is much more doable in the shorter term for counties like Cobb.
I agree, as does the Georgia Department of Transportation which has had unofficial proposals for regional commuter rail service within existing freight rail right-of-ways through outlying counties like Cobb on the drawingboard for at-least 2 decades.
It's just that the proposals for regional commuter rail service remain unfunded, uncoordinated and unworkable for the time being as the state refuses to come up with the money to make commuter rail service operational (money which, contrary to seemingly-popular belief, can be obtained through private sources without tax increases).
Another problem in particular with the existing freight rail corridors running through Cobb County (the CSX/Western & Atlantic line that parallels I-75 NW, and the Norfolk Southern line that parallels US 278 through South Cobb) is that because of the extremely-high volume of freight rail traffic on the existing tracks, the state would (at considerable cost) have to add new capacity to the freight rail right-of-ways so that both freight trains and commuter trains could operate without considerable delays and interruptions of each others' critically-important high-frequency movements.
Because both major freight rail lines (the CSX/W&A line in the I-75 NW Corridor and the NS line in the US 278 corridor) that run through Cobb County are 2 of the busiest stretches of freight rail track on the continent.
...The largest intermodal terminal on the Eastern Seaboard at the NS Intermodal Terminal in Austell is located on the NS line that runs through South Cobb, while the CSX/W&A line that parallels I-75 is part of a segment of track between Atlanta and Cartersville that is one of the absolute busiest segments of freight rail track on the North American continent along with the aforementioned NS line which is even busier than the CSX/W&A line. http://www.dot.ga.gov/informationcen...ro_TONNAGE.pdf
The exceptionally high volumes and frequencies of freight train movements on those existing tracks makes the operation of regional commuter passenger trains impossible without the very-costly addition of new capacity to both aforementioned freight rail right-of-ways.
...Adding new rail capacity to both aforementioned freight rail right-of-ways is something that can (and will eventually) be done, but the exceptionally-high volumes of freight rail traffic on those existing tracks unfortunately means that it is not as simple as quickly putting passenger (commuter) trains on those existing tracks.
The extreme logistical, operational, financial and political difficulties of putting the needed high-frequencies of passenger rail service on already extremely-heavily used freight rail tracks through an increasingly heavily-populated and severely-congested area like Cobb County (where there is clearly a very-large and growing need for a high-volume of passenger rail transit service) means that a potential increase in bus service is much more doable in the shorter term (if a historically very-reluctant state government funds it...which is a big IF) than commuter rail service which will takes years, if not decades, to come online (particularly at this "snail's-inch pace").
Another major problem with attempting operate commuter trains on existing freight rail tracks without substantially increasing capacity (so that both freight and passenger trains can operate at high volumes without interfering with each other's critically-important operations) is that the freight rail companies who control the aforementioned stretches of existing track through Cobb County (by way of ownership for NS and long-term lease for CSX) will not cooperate with state government attempts to implement commuter rail service on the existing tracks that they use heavily because they fear that commuter rail service would interfere heavily with their freight rail profits through delays to freight rail trains so that commuter trains could operate on the same tracks.
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