ATL has only 21st worst traffic in USA...LA first, Austin 4th (Atlanta: wages, quality of life)

[bu2]

Originally Posted by cwkimbro

well... our arterial roads are a bit smaller and less developed.

Also, our widest freeways are often caused by the flow of traffic merging from multiple routes.

Compared to places like Houston and Dallas our interstate system was never fully developed.... for the better and worse.

Most of our really large sections have more do with lack of multiple cross town routes and freeway merging, which other cities don't have a problem with.

Atlanta has wide freeways, but fewer than other metro areas. And our arterial road system is one of the worst in the nation.

[jsvh]

Originally Posted by bu2

And our arterial road system is one of the worst in the nation.

And your basing this on what? Atlanta has way more road lane miles per person than almost any city. Highway & Motorway Fact Book: Index

Reality is: More lane miles just causes people to move further away and buy cheaper land to live on and thus drive more and bring in more traffic. The 1970's dream of building roads to solve traffic is a failure.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by ElleKaye

Free flowing could only be considered typical if it was the normal commute flow. Free flowing is not typical here; congested is. How can you not understand that?

I think you are absolutely right.

As someone else said, there aren't as many freeways and the arterial roads are poor. Free flowing in Atlanta is pretty slow.

And Atlanta isn't as bad in every direction as some other cities. That may make it rank lower than it otherwise would. It doesn't seem to be that hard to head out I-20 to Douglasville. But 400, I-85 N and I-75 N are different stories. Heading north may well be worse than NYC, DC or Boston.

[jsvh]

Originally Posted by AnsleyPark

My 40 minute drive from Midtown to Buckhead a few days ago at 1:30 would leave me to believe otherwise.

Scientific study > anecdotal evidence

[bu2]

Originally Posted by jsvh

And your basing this on what? Atlanta has way more road lane miles per person than almost any city. Highway & Motorway Fact Book: Index

Reality is: More lane miles just causes people to move further away and buy cheaper land to live on and thus drive more and bring in more traffic. The 1970's dream of building roads to solve traffic is a failure.

Arterial roads are not freeways. Arterial roads are Peachtree, Piedmont, Briarcliff, etc.

There was an expert said Atlanta was 19th worst of the 20 largest metros (Boston maybe was worse?-He didn't say). And I've been in all of those metro areas. Atlanta is far worse than all but a couple.

[erick295]

Originally Posted by jsvh

Scientific study > anecdotal evidence

Evidently you haven't spent a lot of time on Peachtree.

[rselah25]

The traffic here doesn't affect me...I for one take Marta Rail...and appreciate its worth within this city..........

If the traffic bothers you here, maybe start supporting the transportation bills that would help your case...walk, ride a bike, be creative.. Understood that its not realistic for most to take advantage of such, but for those of you who can, then do.

Having claim to fame of worst traffic in the country is not one to really gloat about in such a positive demeanor..

[cwkimbro]

Originally Posted by ElleKaye

My bad on using the wrong name, but yes, I meant you.

To try to break it down in the least amount of words possible, INRIX conducts multiple analyses in which multiple factors are taken into account. Stating there are two does not make it so The ratings are based on typical traffic.

Does that mean they don't use the best case, free flow criteria for some? No. It also doesn't mean that they use the free flow for typical unless free flow is typical. Click a few more links on the site.

Even given these different analyses, the ranking was based on hours wasted in traffic, nothing you've posted indicates that free flow is typical or the baseline. for the hours wasted ranking system or one specific analysis.

While I posted only one link, I didn't start at that one because I needed further clarification since the explanations didn't make good sense. I wanted to find out more about how they came to the conclusions.

READ THE LAST 3 QUOTED SENTENCES IN MY PREVIOUS POST!!!

I don't see how this is so confusing, I'm sorry but I really don't.


"INRIX Index (II): The INRIX Index represents the barometer of congestion intensity. For a road segment with no congestion, the INRIX Index would be zero. Each additional point in the INRIX Index represents a percentage point increase in the average travel time of a commute above free-flow conditions during peak hours"

ABOVE FREE-FLOW means Free-flow is the baseline.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by jsvh

And your basing this on what? Atlanta has way more road lane miles per person than almost any city. Highway & Motorway Fact Book: Index

Reality is: More lane miles just causes people to move further away and buy cheaper land to live on and thus drive more and bring in more traffic. The 1970's dream of building roads to solve traffic is a failure.

As for lane miles, Atlanta hasn't added any lanes since that 1999 study you quoted. It hasn't added any since 400 opened in the early 90s and the population has virtually doubled. Houston has increased its lane miles by probably 50% in that time frame (and guess what-its central core is one of the fastest growing in the country).

[bu2]

Originally Posted by jsvh

And your basing this on what? Atlanta has way more road lane miles per person than almost any city. Highway & Motorway Fact Book: Index

Reality is: More lane miles just causes people to move further away and buy cheaper land to live on and thus drive more and bring in more traffic. The 1970's dream of building roads to solve traffic is a failure.

No lane miles just causes businesses (like the Atlanta paper) to move out to where most of their employees are, who want newer, larger, cheaper housing and better schools more than they want a shorter commute.

You no road people will strangle Atlanta. Cities need both roads and transit. Atlanta has chosen neither over the last 20 or so years.