Driving thru Atlanta (moving, cars, deal)

[El Passeaux]

I tried the search for three pages, quick question. Driving to Florida, do I need to go thru Atlanta between 10 and 2? Thanks for any advice.

[flyonpa]

10am-2pm or 10pm to 2am?


It makes a difference .... Also what Interstate are you coming in on? Going out on?

[sean1the1]

We will be awaiting your arrival in the sunshine state.

[tikigod311]

Check the traffic as you get close. Normally, you will fly through or have minor delays at that time, am or pm.

[bryantm3]

Originally Posted by El Passeaux

I tried the search for three pages, quick question. Driving to Florida, do I need to go thru Atlanta between 10 and 2? Thanks for any advice.

don't go through atlanta at rush hour— that means either 6-10 am or 3-7 PM. the best time to drive through is in the middle of the night, but lunch hour will do. try to make it closer to noon than two, however. i would also just go straight through the city... 285 just takes forever to get anywhere, and the distance is something like 2 times longer.

[testa50]

People always ask this question, but probably ~95% of the time your best bet is just to take 75 or 85. Unless there is a specific delay which your phone should tell you about.

Also, I don't think Atlanta really warrants a particularly huge amount of planning to dodge traffic. Even coming at the absolute worst time your probably not expected to lose much more than half an hour.

Now, I-24 in Chattanooga is a different story. That interstate is a nightmare: worse than anything we've got except maybe top-end 285.

[ldl5112]

Even in rush hour, I don't think downtown Atlanta is that bad on the interstate. It'll slow down considerably, but it usually won't stop unless there's a disabled vehicle or a wreck in your lane. It's usually not a major issue if you're going straight through and not needing to change lanes. The problem is around the perimeter, especially traveling north.

[Adric]

It's not just delays people are trying to avoid. I've known a number of people from smaller metros / small towns that found the freeways here just flat out intimidating which is compounded when they're also clogged with cars during the rush... even if traffic is still slowly moving. If they have to deal with 8 lanes of traffic, they at least want to be able to easily change lanes, etc.

[JAS]

Driving through ATL on the interstates during lunch hours isn't bad. I've been on 75 north of downtown numerous times during lunch, and it is never backed up. Most of the "lunch traffic" is limited to a few smaller side streets.