Metro ATLANTA Freeway Lights(What's the issue and Delay) (Roswell: home, tax)

[oobanks]

I hate to say this and I may take some heat behind this but who ever is the blame for this lack of responsibility for our City's basic infrastructure like lighting on our major highways whether it be the State, City, Counties or whoever, this is crazy. They can always find money to put behind or support what they want to like shiny new Stadiums when the one's that we have aren't that old compared to some Cities but we can't invest in basic lighting for safety, repairs or we claim to not have the money to pay the light bill to keep the lights on. Now that's interesting. We buy fancy things in our house we don't NEED but can't afford to pay the light bill or change the wiring or the light bulb if needed.. smh

[jsvh]

Sure. If there is a big organized effort you might get a city or two to spend a couple million to fix a few dozen lights, but that won't solve the problem. They will just be neglected again once the focus goes away. Their voters will be putting more pressure on them for more local safety issues like police, stoplights, pedestrian / bike improvements than spending millions to support regional transportation infrastructure safety improvements.

The real fix is moving responsibility to GDOT.

[toll_booth]

Originally Posted by oobanks

I hate to say this and I may take some heat behind this but who ever is the blame for this lack of responsibility for our City's basic infrastructure like lighting on our major highways whether it be the State, City, Counties or whoever, this is crazy. They can always find money to put behind or support what they want to like shiny new Stadiums when the one's that we have aren't that old compared to some Cities but we can't invest in basic lighting for safety, repairs or we claim to not have the money to pay the light bill to keep the lights on. Now that's interesting. We buy fancy things in our house we don't NEED but can't afford to pay the light bill or change the wiring or the light bulb if needed.. smh

I think that part of the problem is that infrastructure maintenance is a very unsexy political issue. "Hey, I'm gonna petition our county commission to turn the highway lights back on." Uh, OK. Well, those lights can save lives. That's the connection that people need to make here.

[toll_booth]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

I rented an apartment off Pleasant Hill Road in 2000 and was always happy with how lit up I-85 was. Then I moved to Buckhead in 2001 and never took that stretch of I-85 at night anymore.

In 2009, I bought a house in Duluth. I was horrified to see that the lights, which I knew were capable of shining bright on I-85, had been turned off.

So I wrote to the AJC about it. And they published an article on it: Rick Badie's Gwinnett: Shining a light on safety | www.ajc.com

I don't want to say I'm personally responsible for getting the lights turned back on, but a nice letter to the media with proof points from scientific studies showing correlations between illumination and accidents couldn't have hurt.

The lights have been shining ever since.

Mad props for your positive civic engagement. Keep it up.

[PKCorey]

Originally Posted by bornjacksonian

W= Being new the area residing outside the Smyrna city limits, I had no idea the lights on the interstates were dark until driving from East Pointe one night. I could barely see as is at night and with the lights being off made it even more difficult. You had some ppl respond supporting the lights being off, but one comment that stood out was PKCorey stating that "it's kinda the norm around here." Now that I've been here over 5 years it's like I didn't pay the lighting much attention until reading this thread. It really became the norm for me also lol.

I told you, .

Most times, I don't even notice unless it is a rainy night and I wish, they had lights on the highway or when I go from I-20 through central Dekalb and you end up at 285 and its pitch black.

285 is pitch black.

[skbl17]

GDOT really should take over responsibility for lighting freeways. The cities and counties don't maintain state freeways and interstates, so they shouldn't have to foot the bill for lights.

Besides, GDOT has an extra ~$900 million/year now (and depending on inflation, that number could very well go up). Yes, most of that is reserved for maintenance and "a few select projects per year", but I don't see why a few million dollars/year can't be set aside for freeway lights in Georgia's metro areas.

- skbl17

[PKCorey]

We shall see.

They barely have GDOT cameras over the metro interstates. The freeway lights might seem even more unfeasible to them as well.

[oobanks]

I just think it's imperative that we get the lights fixed and back on that we do have. I 20, I 75/85, inside the Perimeter, especially the City of Atlanta and Airport Area, no Excuses... I think it's time we start holding or fair leaders responsible and stop just let them blow money as they please on unnecessary items until we have our bare necessities and our bills are paid.. just my opinion

[oobanks]

Does anyone know if the new I-75 Toll Hot lanes on the NW Side and in Henry County going to include lighting in these projects

[Gilah G.]

Gawd...i needed a Valium this morning..630 am in the rain on 400 to make the Atlanta heart run downtown...pitch black!!!! Unbelievable how this great city neglects to fix the lights