Anyone plan on using Ga 400 once it is free? (Atlanta: homes, neighborhood)

[dblackga]

Originally Posted by gerrythesnake

As the Georgia Department of Transportation had promised earlier, the Ga. Highway 400 tollbooths are scheduled to shut down on Nov. 21


I am. I was too cheap to pay 50 cents to ride on Ga 400.

If it weren't for people like you, it would have been paid off two years earlier. As it is, you cheapskates are all going to go toolin' down the road like you owned it and ***** about the traffic -- after not having contributed a penny to it.

Already looking for alternatives . . .

[mdiggs1]

Originally Posted by PKCorey

Someone has to cover the maintenance of the bridges and roads.

Oh come on, I heard that excuse a million times. You'd think someone would come up with a better lie.

The tolls to get into New York City just went up recently! How many hikes is it going to be?

Keep it real, peole from New York and Philadelphia moved down here to avoid things like this.

[gerrythesnake]

Originally Posted by mdiggs1

Oh come on, I heard that excuse a million times. You'd think someone would come up with a better lie.

The tolls to get into New York City just went up recently! How many hikes is it going to be?

Keep it real, peole from New York and Philadelphia moved down here to avoid things like this.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by mdiggs1
Thats because people up north are slaves. Its not the price, its the audacity of having a toll.

I moved To the northeast 2 yrs ago, currently im in Philadelphia. I cant believe the toll they charge you to pass some old rickety bridge into Pennsylvania from New Jersey.

My how the tides have changed. People use to run North for freedom, now they're running south to avoid the new slavery (high taxes).

Originally Posted by PKCorey

Someone has to cover the maintenance of the bridges and roads.

Originally Posted by mdiggs1

Oh come on, I heard that excuse a million times. You'd think someone would come up with a better lie.

The tolls to get into New York City just went up recently! How many hikes is it going to be?

Keep it real, peole from New York and Philadelphia moved down here to avoid things like this.

If people are moving down to Georgia to get away from tolls then they are probably running to the wrong place because there are also definite plans to impose tolls on major roads all over Metro Atlanta over the long-run.

Also, while Georgia may have a reputation for having lower taxes than places like California or the Northeast, many Georgia politicians love to impose and collect "fees" so that they can say that they did not raise your taxes.

Here is a link to Georgia Department of Transportation plans to impose congestion pricing (tolls on selected lanes) all over Metro Atlanta over the long-term, including on the section of GA 400 on which the tolls are currently ending:
http://www.dot.ga.gov/Projects/studi..._for%20web.pdf

The current plans are for a $16 billion-plus network of managed lanes on most sections of the freeway system in Metro Atlanta.

But within the libertarian think-tanks that drive public policy on this matter there is increasing talk of pushing to place congestion-priced variable tolls (tolls that rise at peak traffic times) on ALL lanes of the freeway system as a means of financial leverage to get major multimodal transportation infrastructure projects done.

...Major multimodal transportation infrastructure projects like the highly-desirable burial and tunneling of the I-75/I-85 Downtown Connector so that the surface area over the Interstate superhighway can be reclaimed for high-density mixed-use development and greenspace.

With the controversy and discontent that has been fostered over the GA 400 extension through Buckhead in the past, and with residents along the GA 400 Extension corridor wanting more greenspace, it also may not necessarily be out of the realm of possibility for tolls to be used to eventually bury and tunnel GA 400 under Buckhead and North Atlanta so that the surface area the road currently occupies can be reclaimed for real estate development and greenspace between I-85 and I-285 ITP.

Enjoy the respite from the tolls on GA 400 because they will be back and on a much larger-scale in the not-so-distant future.

[cqholt]

Again, why not take the $16B and put it to implementing a Commuter Rail system?

[jsvh]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Again, why not take the $16B and put it to implementing a Commuter Rail system?

That $16B, I assume, is just the initial investment that will be returned plus more from the tolls.

Similar deals should be able to be struck for commuter rail as well. And that and demand for other transit will only increase as people are forced to pay for the expensive roads they drive on.

Stop using my tax dollars to fund roads I don't drive on. We need lower taxes by creating more toll roads.

[vince217]

i liked that 50 cent toll. it was just the right amount to pay for the convenience of being able to cut through buckhead and onto 285 (or 285 / alpharetta)

[CAWjr]

I have no need to use 400 between Buckhead & Perimeter. I do have a toll tag for the rare cases when I did go through that way so I could just fly through the tag lines. My usage will not be impacted at all & I am floored that anyone would have wasted the extra 50 cents in gas & time to go around the toll plaza to avoid paying the 50 cent toll.

If I am somewhere north of the city & I want to go to Buckhead, I will use 400. if I am in Buckhead or points South & I want to get to Perimeter, I will use 400. If I am home in Smyrna, I will use 285 or Paces Ferry to get to either one. Simple as that.

[magnetar]

Originally Posted by mdiggs1

Keep it real, peole from New York and Philadelphia moved down here to avoid things like this.

I suppose we can only hope then that those people will move back home.

I don't get this line of reasoning. I bet the people who don't want to pay tolls are the same ones who don't like taxes. I guess they think someone should be donating the highways for free.

[cqholt]

That $16B, I assume, is just the initial investment that will be returned plus more from the tolls.

Only $9B in revenue from tolls. GDOT will be on the hook for the rest. But those numbers are always inflated so I assume that $9B is an exaggeration.