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Tallahassee is an undeniably beautiful city to me: wide avenues of moss draped oaks, oodles of gigantic blooming azaleas in early spring, the state government buildings.
I agree. It was a wonderful place to go through Jr. High.
SW Georgia is overall pretty poor. Thomasville is a bit of a contrast from many of the other areas. I've thought there should be a direct route to I-10 from Atlanta which could benefit SW Georgia (using I-75 takes you far to the east). Atlanta could have a western bypass, use I-185 to Columbus, then down to Albany and use some combination of 19 and/or 319 by Camilla and Thomasville and hit I-10 just east of Tallahassee. Certainly make it easier getting down there than getting off I-75 at Cordele or Tifton and driving on those side roads.
Well...
The GRIP corridors, 19 and 319 do just that. The drive down I-75 and then down 319 isn't bad at all.
The problem with an interstate route is not much is down there. For Atlantans to access I-10 we are going further west or east outside of Tallahassee and SW Georgia alone, so the existing network works just find for that. It isn't that big of a city.
The GRIP corridors don't have much traffic and move fairly well along those existing corridors. Largely because the travel demand to Tallahassee isn't that high. They are high speed, until you go through the speed traps in the local cities.
280/27 goes south of Columbus.
My only complaint about the quality of GRIP corridors is the state and the GDOT need more power over them.
We need to prevent local governments from using curb cuts on them. They need to be treated like lite-freeways, not a free investment tool for small towns. They need to built their own town/connector roads for development.
I think the GDOT needs to be able to regulate those roads better given the high level of state investment, including speed.
SW Georgia is overall pretty poor. Thomasville is a bit of a contrast from many of the other areas. I've thought there should be a direct route to I-10 from Atlanta which could benefit SW Georgia (using I-75 takes you far to the east). Atlanta could have a western bypass, use I-185 to Columbus, then down to Albany and use some combination of 19 and/or 319 by Camilla and Thomasville and hit I-10 just east of Tallahassee. Certainly make it easier getting down there than getting off I-75 at Cordele or Tifton and driving on those side roads.
Sounds like a proposal I read some years back of extending I-81 which currently terminates at Knoxville. Let it overlay 75 to just northeast of Chattanooga and then split off, forming a bypass to the east of Chattanooga then entering Georgia and going down the western side of the state, overlaying 185 then on to Tallahassee and I-10 with a possible spur to Dothan and Panama City.
The GRIP corridors, 19 and 319 do just that. The drive down I-75 and then down 319 isn't bad at all.
The problem with an interstate route is not much is down there. For Atlantans to access I-10 we are going further west or east outside of Tallahassee and SW Georgia alone, so the existing network works just find for that. It isn't that big of a city.
The GRIP corridors don't have much traffic and move fairly well along those existing corridors. Largely because the travel demand to Tallahassee isn't that high. They are high speed, until you go through the speed traps in the local cities.
280/27 goes south of Columbus.
My only complaint about the quality of GRIP corridors is the state and the GDOT need more power over them.
We need to prevent local governments from using curb cuts on them. They need to be treated like lite-freeways, not a free investment tool for small towns. They need to built their own town/connector roads for development.
I think the GDOT needs to be able to regulate those roads better given the high level of state investment, including speed.
Its a chicken and the egg thing. A lot of companies won't consider an area without interstate access.
Its not that bad to Moultrie (other than the speed traps in Norman Park), but Albany and Camilla and that area involve a lot of back roads off 75. 19 south of Atlanta is pretty lousy until you get to Albany. Going through Columbus is out of the way.
The idea would be not just Tallahassee, but everywhere to the west on I-10 as well as continuing south to Tampa without having to go through Orlando. Going down I-65 through Alabama to I-10 always seems to be a mess. Florida has a "northeast corridor" proposal that goes from Tampa to Gainesville to help with avoiding that part of I-75 and I-4. So this could basically follow 19 before connecting to this corridor somewhere south of Gainesville.
I've always been partial to Thomasville after living in Tallahassee for a few years as a teenager (after moving from here). I haven't been to either in years, and am way overdue for a visit.
Friends in Central/South FL tell me I wouldn't recognize Tallahassee, which I consider one of the best kept secrets in the South. It's certainly not a fit for everyone, but it's a great smaller city/region and quite beautiful.
My Uncle is thinking about moving from Miami to Tallahassee. Cheaper and quieter. Now that the kids are all grown, he's gotten tired of the Miami life. He was born and raised there. I never explored Tallahassee though. My family always say it's basically Georgia.
Its a chicken and the egg thing. A lot of companies won't consider an area without interstate access.
Its not that bad to Moultrie (other than the speed traps in Norman Park), but Albany and Camilla and that area involve a lot of back roads off 75. 19 south of Atlanta is pretty lousy until you get to Albany. Going through Columbus is out of the way.
The idea would be not just Tallahassee, but everywhere to the west on I-10 as well as continuing south to Tampa without having to go through Orlando. Going down I-65 through Alabama to I-10 always seems to be a mess. Florida has a "northeast corridor" proposal that goes from Tampa to Gainesville to help with avoiding that part of I-75 and I-4. So this could basically follow 19 before connecting to this corridor somewhere south of Gainesville.
but the problem I see is there isn't much along I-10 going west that you can't get to on I85/65. As you go further west it gets easier to use roads in Alabama and Florida short distances to access the coast. Panama City is really about the only problem and it is a small area.
We are talking about really small cities and towns and I don't think we collectively have the money to link every small city and town by interstates that go in all directions. The GRIP projects already took so much of the state's GDOT assets as it is.
We are discussing a handful towns of less than 20,000 people and in counties with just about 40k.
but I disagree an interstate is always needed too. Georgia did a study after the GRIP corridor projects were mostly complete. They were comparing the areas in the GRIP corridors vs the areas without them and essentially found that economic development was following the GRIP corridors.
Thomasville, Moultrie, and Albany all have relatively short drives on traffic-free 4-lane state highways to the interstates, so it is still easy for industry to access them. They just might not pick up business from people needing a pit-stop on a trip.
But in short... what I'm ultimately trying to say is the cost of investment would be really high to access such a sparsely populated area and those areas aren't without nearby interstate access, even if it doesn't go in all directions. The panhandle itself has interstate access, just not in all directions at all points.
but the problem I see is there isn't much along I-10 going west that you can't get to on I85/65. As you go further west it gets easier to use roads in Alabama and Florida short distances to access the coast. Panama City is really about the only problem and it is a small area.
We are talking about really small cities and towns and I don't think we collectively have the money to link every small city and town by interstates that go in all directions. The GRIP projects already took so much of the state's GDOT assets as it is.
We are discussing a handful towns of less than 20,000 people and in counties with just about 40k.
but I disagree an interstate is always needed too. Georgia did a study after the GRIP corridor projects were mostly complete. They were comparing the areas in the GRIP corridors vs the areas without them and essentially found that economic development was following the GRIP corridors.
Thomasville, Moultrie, and Albany all have relatively short drives on traffic-free 4-lane state highways to the interstates, so it is still easy for industry to access them. They just might not pick up business from people needing a pit-stop on a trip.
But in short... what I'm ultimately trying to say is the cost of investment would be really high to access such a sparsely populated area and those areas aren't without nearby interstate access, even if it doesn't go in all directions. The panhandle itself has interstate access, just not in all directions at all points.
The panhandle has really grown. The Destin to Panama City area is hard to access and gets tons of tourists. The road I am suggesting has lots of roles-western Atlanta bypass, access to SW Georgia, direct access to I-10 West, alternative to congested I-65, direct route Atlanta to Tampa, alternative to congested I-75 in Georgia and Florida, connecting north Florida to Tampa. If it was simply to get Albany on an interstate (and no its not a short easy drive from Albany to the interstates) as you say, it wouldn't be worth it. But it would have substantial benefits to Atlanta and Tampa in addition to the areas in between.
My Uncle is thinking about moving from Miami to Tallahassee. Cheaper and quieter. Now that the kids are all grown, he's gotten tired of the Miami life. He was born and raised there. I never explored Tallahassee though. My family always say it's basically Georgia.
Half of my friends were transplants from Dade & Broward when we lived there.
Tallahassee is cool. It's built on seven hills, is lush and gorgeous and is a pretty progressive island in the Panhandle. It would remind you of Gainesville, only larger. It seems like they have more than they should for their size, but it serves as a regional center for a pretty large area.
The panhandle has really grown. The Destin to Panama City area is hard to access and gets tons of tourists. The road I am suggesting has lots of roles-western Atlanta bypass, access to SW Georgia, direct access to I-10 West, alternative to congested I-65, direct route Atlanta to Tampa, alternative to congested I-75 in Georgia and Florida, connecting north Florida to Tampa. If it was simply to get Albany on an interstate (and no its not a short easy drive from Albany to the interstates) as you say, it wouldn't be worth it. But it would have substantial benefits to Atlanta and Tampa in addition to the areas in between.
And while there isn't a lot in SW Georgia, the population of the Florida MSAs 2014 estimate:
Tallahassee 375,000
Panama City 190,000
Ft. Walton Beach/Destin 250,000
Pensacola 463,000
The panhandle has really grown. The Destin to Panama City area is hard to access and gets tons of tourists. The road I am suggesting has lots of roles-western Atlanta bypass, access to SW Georgia, direct access to I-10 West, alternative to congested I-65, direct route Atlanta to Tampa, alternative to congested I-75 in Georgia and Florida, connecting north Florida to Tampa. If it was simply to get Albany on an interstate (and no its not a short easy drive from Albany to the interstates) as you say, it wouldn't be worth it. But it would have substantial benefits to Atlanta and Tampa in addition to the areas in between.
A 40 minutes/40 mile drive down a 4 lane divided US highway to Cordele and a 45 minute/40 mile drive down a 4 lane mostly divided US highway to Tifton all of which is across a sparsely populated rural landscape with little traffic.
It doesn't get much easier than that.
The road you are suggesting would cost a few billion, serves relatively few people, and serves places that have little traffic on large state and federal roads.
I just don't understand this mindset that a road is worthless for travel if isn't an interstate.
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