Need driving advice through Atlanta, please (rental, law, legally)

[clc08]

We'll be driving a 24' rental moving truck pulling a car. Is there any best time of day to try to get through Atlanta? Would you stay on 75 or use the bypass? We will be coming up on I75 from Florida heading to Indiana.

Thanks.

[flyonpa]

Unless you go thru Atlanta in the middle of the night, its best to go I285 around the west side of the city.


Not 100% sure you are legally allow to take Rental, towing car "Thru" downtown

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by clc08

We'll be driving a 24' rental moving truck pulling a car. Is there any best time of day to try to get through Atlanta? Would you stay on 75 or use the bypass? We will be coming up on I75 from Florida heading to Indiana.

Thanks.

The best time of day to drive through Atlanta any day of the week is during off-peak hours or overnight hours roughly between the hours of 8pm and 5am.

flyonpa is correct about the truck restrictions as all trucks with 6 or more wheels traveling through the area are required to use the I-285 Bypass.

That means that no matter what time of day you come through, you will have to use the I-285 Bypass, which you should use around the westside of the city.

Though, even if you are using the I-285 Bypass around the westside of the city, you should still try to time your trip to come through town during off-peak hours as I-75 to the south of town through Henry County can be a mess anytime of day during daylight and peak hours before you even get to I-285.

[MattCW]

After about 9:30am, you shouldn't hit any traffic in Atlanta until about 3:30pm and it quickly gets bad around 4:00pm till 7:30pmish. During peak hours, any direction, you'll hit traffic so off-peak, just stay on I-75, though check the law to make sure you can tow a vehicle through the city.

[cwkimbro]

To help clarify....

If it has more than 6 wheels it is illegal to drive it inside I-285.

6 or less and you're fine. I honestly don't know how the car tow figures into this....

http://dps.georgia.gov/sites/dps.geo...20Highways.pdf

[gerrythesnake]

Make sure you are not on 75 in metro Atlanta between 4-7pm

[sedimenjerry]

Just take 285 like others have said. No risk of being illegal. Mid day traffic on west side 285 won't be bad at all. 75 N of town won't be bad til 3:30 or so

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by cwkimbro

To help clarify....

If it has more than 6 wheels it is illegal to drive it inside I-285.

6 or less and you're fine. I honestly don't know how the car tow figures into this....

http://dps.georgia.gov/sites/dps.geo...20Highways.pdf

Thanks for the clarification!

Sorry, I was distracted while typing when I typed that it is illegal to drive through Atlanta inside of I-285 with "6 or more wheels".

It's also a good question as to whether the car tow figures into the restrictions on vehicles with more than 6 wheels on stretches of interstate inside of I-285.

Here is some contact information for the Georgia State Patrol that you can call to ask whether those restrictions to vehicles with more than 6 wheels inside of I-285 applies to a car tow:
Georgia State Patrol | Georgia Department of Public Safety

[gtcorndog]

Wait, I thought the only City-Data solution was to ride ride MARTA.

[ATLTJL]

As my good friend so eloquently stated....."There's bumper to bumper traffic SOMEWHERE in Atlanta 24 hours a day, 7 days a week."

Okay, maybe not exactly, but the point is, you can hit horrible traffic at 3am. Why? Because there is a project that requires shutting 3 lanes and they are doing it during the overnight hours. You can hit awful traffic on Saturday. Why? There is a GA Tech or Braves game.

The bottom line is you can get nailed any time. But as others have said, the best thing you can do is come during the late night hours or 11am-2pm to be safe.