Sugarloaf Parkway extension (Atlanta, Gainesville, Lawrenceville: 2015, houses, employment)

[Saintmarks]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Why is Ronald Reagan Pkwy even there? It doesn't connect to anything.

You got me there. Surely it was designed with that intention. It ought to connect, a county closing in on the million population mark ought to have more limited access connectivity than one lone interstate.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by Saintmarks

You got me there. Surely it was designed with that intention. It ought to connect, a county closing in on the million population mark ought to have more limited access connectivity than one lone interstate.

3 if you count Stone Mtn Fwy and SR 316.

[sedimenjerry]

Connects Snellville and southern Gwinnett County to 85. Opened up that part to more development than US 78 alone.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by sedimenjerry

Connects Snellville and southern Gwinnett County to 85. Opened up that part to more development than US 78 alone.

But it does not connect to 85, instead dumps traffic onto Pleasant Hill. How many vehicles use RR?

[Saintmarks]

Originally Posted by cqholt

3 if you count Stone Mtn Fwy and SR 316.

Just small spurs in the overall picture. 78 loses the limited access just past the county line. 316 for only a couple of exits off of 85 as well. But they are there.

Speaking of, is there still talk of converting 316 into limited access all the way to Athens?

[bu2]

Originally Posted by Saintmarks

Just small spurs in the overall picture. 78 loses the limited access just past the county line. 316 for only a couple of exits off of 85 as well. But they are there.

Speaking of, is there still talk of converting 316 into limited access all the way to Athens?

I haven't heard that idea reversed. But there's no money for it.

Really 78 is a better route for most of the metro. 316 works for the north side, but its out of the way for anything south of 285 N.

[sedimenjerry]

Originally Posted by cqholt

But it does not connect to 85, instead dumps traffic onto Pleasant Hill. How many vehicles use RR?

Which goes to 85 (although I always wiggle my way to Beaver Ruin instead). I have no idea what the actual traffic counts are but it's pretty substantial. By 630 am there's a steady stream coming out of Snellville at Five Forks headed west. And by that I mean it can be precarious merging onto it. There aren't any delays from it (speed limit is only 50 anyway) but the end at Scenic Highway backs up in the afternoon (like right now). There's also a lot of local connectivity. I wasn't here Saturday when they closed it for the day but my mom got stuck in tons of traffic. I used to take it to soccer practice at Bethesda. I would even take it to high school to avoid traffic on Webb Gin House (parked at a nearby church, not the school).

[sedimenjerry]

Originally Posted by bu2

I haven't heard that idea reversed. But there's no money for it.

Really 78 is a better route for most of the metro. 316 works for the north side, but its out of the way for anything south of 285 N.

The problem with 78 is it does not connect well to downtown or even to the Emory area. Also 78 has at grade development which kills any chance of a limited access freeway. 316, however, only has roads coming off or intersecting, no business or parking lots. 316 needs to be a freeway past Dacula (Harbins Road). The whole freeway is a death trap from Lville to Athens. The part near Winder could use the same treatment as 78 in Monroe. 316 also has a TON of game day traffic to/from Athens. Texas has already improved Route 6 from 290 to Bryan/College station (home of A&M) with limited access from Navasota to Bryan.

[Mossberg]

The Ronald Reagan extension to I-85 was pretty much deemed dead after the toll feasibility study done a couple years ago. The county will have to find money elsewhere if they ever hope to finish the extension. The letter is below

http://www.gwinnettcounty.com/static...3%20Letter.pdf


316 is supposed to be converted to fully limited access as part of the long range plan. The Collins Hill Rd and SR20 overpasses that were recently completed over 316 were the start of this process. The next overpass to be built will be Walther Blvd.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by Saintmarks

Born, what are the current plans of connecting the Ronald Reagan Parkway to 85? I remember seeing some plans years ago, has anything been done in my abstentia?

Originally Posted by sedimenjerry

In the time it took me to get me a high schools diploma and a B.S. degree I think they're still on the "Planning" stage. I don't know if it will ever get done. By the time it does my parents will be retired and I doubt I'll still be here. I had actually even heard of an extension east from Scenic to 78 but I doubt that would ever happen. Too much in the way.

From what I understand, Gwinnett County government seems to have placed the Ronald Reagan Extension project on hold indefinitely (if not almost totally abandoned it) after recently proposing to build the RR Parkway Extension to I-85 as a toll road.

The effort to complete the Ronald Reagan Parkway Extension has suffered greatly from really bad timing.

(...Gwinnett County proposed completing the project during the public backlash against the implementation of tolls on the I-85 carpool lanes and in the aftermath of multiple ethics scandals involving the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners...)

(...Gwinnett officials also waited until the area where the road was proposed to be built filled with heavy residential development bringing opposition from many sociopolitical groups who claimed that Gwinnett officials were only contemplating moving forward with building the project because the area where the road was to be built was filled with low-income minorities.)

Gwinnett County commissioned a study which was completed in February 2013 that found the Ronald Reagan Parkway Extension to be unfeasible as a stand-alone toll project.

Here is a link to a letter reporting the conclusions of that study determining the feasibility of a tolled Ronald Reagan Parkway Extension to I-85:
http://www.gwinnettcounty.com/static...3%20Letter.pdf

And here is a key excerpt from that letter:

As a stand-alone project, the Ronald Reagan Parkway Extension does not result in enough travel time savings to make paying a toll a perceived value-added option. Although the T&R study indicated that 45,000-50,000 vehicles per day would use the road if it were in place today with no toll, the traffic was projected to drop off dramatically at the initiation of any tolling. Toll sensitivity models take a variety of factors into account. In this case, the factors that negatively affected users’ willingness to pay included the current state of the economy, an overall reduction of trips in the corridor (less congestion than anticipated) and the highly congested conditions on I-85 at the terminus.

As a result of these forecasts, it became apparent that it is not economically feasible to move the Ronald Reagan Parkway Extension project forward as a stand-alone toll-funded, public-private initiative at this time. However, the study did indicate that the project could have potential merit in the future and is worth considering at such time that traffic conditions and the economy dictate.