Memorial Drive joining intown renaissance (Atlanta, Reynolds: bill, transportation, activity)

[magnetar]

I almost forgot—turn lanes would also prevent the backups that happen in the reversible lane when someone wants to make a left turn during "commuting hours." The backed up left lane causes people to try to dart back over into the right one, which—you guessed it—also causes accidents.

[aries4118]

ohmygodhatereversiblelanes.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by Dkeating

I agree that the reversible lanes don't do much to help your neighborhood, since it's so close to downtown already. But I think they do help people from Edgewood, Kirkwood, East Lake, and uni-DeKalb have an easier commute to jobs downtown, so I wouldn't say they don't do anything for those neighborhoods.

As far as I-20 goes, it's more congested than Memorial, with all the people heading west from DeKalb and Rockdale County--there's a reason people take Memorial instead.

There is a train 1/4-1.2 mile north and a frequent bus line running along Memorial.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by red92s

Imagine Memorial is telling us reversible lanes are good and we should expand their use. "Safe Streets Atlanta" is telling us we should invest millions of bond money to remove them from Dekalb because they are unsafe and statistics prove it. At least one group, probably both, are jiggling data to fit their narrative and desired outcome. It's no wonder there isn't more cohesive regional transportation planning . . . we've got proposals for roads separated by less than a mile that were done in a total vacuum and offer seemingly opposite suggestions on how to deal with reversible lanes.

One is a city maintained road, the other is a state maintained roadway. Each jurisdiction have different priorities. CoA= creating a high QOL for it's residents; GDOT= moving the most cars per hour.

[Dkeating]

[quote=magnetar;39854260]What does it matter what time of day the accidents happen? Reversible lanes cause accidents, and I've sat in the Krog Street tunnel waiting for APD to direct traffic at the Krog/DeKalb intersection too many times because of accidents to listen to someone tell me otherwise. It doesn't matter whether the accidents happen during commuting hours or not, it remains a fact that reversible lanes cause accidents. [quote]

It shows that the vast majority of people who drive on DeKalb know how to deal with the reversible lanes. (I don't know much about the safety of Memorial's reversible lane; I don't drive it that much). If the accidents are occurring primarily during non-commuting hours, an easy fix would be to disable the reversible lanes (have a red "X" on both sides) during those times.

[cqholt]

[quote=Dkeating;39855918][quote=magnetar;39854260]What does it matter what time of day the accidents happen? Reversible lanes cause accidents, and I've sat in the Krog Street tunnel waiting for APD to direct traffic at the Krog/DeKalb intersection too many times because of accidents to listen to someone tell me otherwise. It doesn't matter whether the accidents happen during commuting hours or not, it remains a fact that reversible lanes cause accidents.

It shows that the vast majority of people who drive on DeKalb know how to deal with the reversible lanes. (I don't know much about the safety of Memorial's reversible lane; I don't drive it that much). If the accidents are occurring primarily during non-commuting hours, an easy fix would be to disable the reversible lanes (have a red "X" on both sides) during those times.

Non-frequent users do not know what the red X's mean and assume it is a center turn lane.

[Dkeating]

Originally Posted by magnetar

I almost forgot—turn lanes would also prevent the backups that happen in the reversible lane when someone wants to make a left turn during "commuting hours." The backed up left lane causes people to try to dart back over into the right one, which—you guessed it—also causes accidents.

I haven't seen or heard of such an accident. Do you think they happen that much?

When I drive on DeKalb, I drive both ways in the morning and the afternoon (dropping someone off; I don't work downtown). The vast majority of people on the road in the morning are headed downtown from the east. They're not going to turn left on Whitefoord, Arizona, or Krog. Backups from people wanting to turn left in the morning in that direction are exceedingly rare. Now, for those unfortunate few who live in Inman Park, Reynoldstown, Cabbagetown and work east, yeah, they'll have to wait for the person trying to turn left on Oakdale, Krog, Clifton (the last one is the worst). In the afternoon, the small minority of people heading downtown will have to wait for the driver turning left onto Arizona, Whitefoord, and Krog.

Just to get an idea where you're coming from, do you commute downtown (or west) in the morning? Do you take Memorial or DeKalb? If you take DeKalb, do you access it via Krog St.? I would think that a lot of people in Reynoldstown and Cabbagetown who drive and who have a traditional commute would not favor removing the reversible lanes on DeKalb and Memorial, as it would seem to make the neighborhoods even harder to get out of. The one time I tried to get from Cabbagetown to DeKalb Ave via the tunnel, I witnessed some of the worst traffic I've ever seen intown; of course, I might have caught it on a bad day. I can't imagine that removing a westbound lane of traffic would make it easier to get out of Cabbagetown that way.

Overall, I think they should remove the lanes and see what happens. We'll know in a year or two whether it works out and people modify their behavior enough (take MARTA, bike) to make it work.

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by cqholt

GDOT= moving the most cars per hour.

Even GDOT would likely support the removal of the reversible lanes, given that they're a safety and operations nightmare.

[jsvh]

Originally Posted by Gulch

Even GDOT would likely support the removal of the reversible lanes, given that they're a safety and operations nightmare.

Yeah, they probably just had someone working this project that likes them but doesn't have to live near them. Those that live near by are going to have to be vocal to get this recommendation changed.

[red92s]

Originally Posted by cqholt

One is a city maintained road, the other is a state maintained roadway. Each jurisdiction have different priorities. CoA= creating a high QOL for it's residents; GDOT= moving the most cars per hour.

Please point me to the jurisdictional priorities of each. The two roads are about as functionally identical as you can get at this point. It matters naught what agency is tasked with maintaining it, except to those trying to spin a message. I'd wager that passenger safety, not throughput, takes priority on every GDOT list there is. If reversible lanes are as confusing and prone to increased accidents as Safe Streets Dekalb proponents claim, they've got no place on Memorial either. I suspect the reality is that there are not as many incidents on Dekalb (particularly serious ones) as we are being led to believe, and that the desire to increase driver safety is simply being used to mask someone's push for increased bicyclification.