Atlanta named 8th most congested city in the world

[architect77]

Here is NCDOT at work:

They are asking for public input in locating the next section (50%- 75% completion) of Raleigh's Outer Loop.

There are about 12 different routes and this particular spot is the convergence with two other freeways, I-40 and US70 Bypass.

Trivia: There are 4 different and separate US70 highways here in Johnston County: US70, US70 Business, US70 Bypass, & Old US70 (I think)

Also they've been granted at least 5 new Interstate number designations from Raleigh to Norfolk to the NC coast.

https://xfer.services.ncdot.gov/PDEA...540_6B_PHM.pdf

[Shin Dynamo X]

No way can anyone convince me that ATL is Top 10, and yet DC is not considered in the mix. Their subway Metro system is a joke, and is constantly under repair. I average 1.5 hours each way on my commute. That's 3 hours total per day, even with me using the subway...sitting next to all kinds of weird folks.

[Atlanta Scientist]

I think that if Georgia had more urban centers like NC and TX, then we would have more roads. Georgia, as a whole, is too rural so I don't think the populations sees a benefit to building more roads for connectivity. Anything built in the Atlanta metro is always seen as being taken away from other parts of the state. The City is on the right track with it taxing itself to improve public transit and walkability.

[NewNashville]

I just want to leave my place and not be caught in traffic due to multiple wrecks.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by Columbia Scientist

I think that if Georgia had more urban centers like NC and TX, then we would have more roads. Georgia, as a whole, is too rural so I don't think the populations sees a benefit to building more roads for connectivity. Anything built in the Atlanta metro is always seen as being taken away from other parts of the state. The City is on the right track with it taxing itself to improve public transit and walkability.

That is a good assessment that Georgia might likely have more roads if the state had more major urban centers like North Carolina and Texas.

Though it should be noted that even though Georgia might have fewer major urban centers than states like North Carolina and Texas, Georgia still seems to have done somewhat very well building connectivity through rural areas between its smaller primary and secondary metros, cities and towns through a state government initiative called the Governor's Road Improvement Program (or GRIP).

GRIP has increased connectivity through many rural areas between Georgia's smaller primary and secondary metros by expanding many existing segments of state-maintained two-lane highways to four and five lanes. GRIP has also built many new segments of four and five-lane roadway through rural areas around the state of Georgia.

"Governor's Road Improvement Program GRIP" (Georgia Department of Transportation/GDOT)
GRIP (Governor's Road Improvement Program)

From the link above:

Governor’s Road Improvement Program (GRIP)
The Governor’s Road Improvement Program (GRIP) is a system of economic development highways that, when complete, will connect 95 percent of Georgia cities with populations of 2,500 or more to the Interstate Highway System. It will also place 98 percent of Georgia’s population within 20 miles of a four-lane road.* This program was originally adopted by the Georgia General Assembly in 1989.*

Project Development
GRIP involves three phases of project development:
1. Engineering (including design, planning and environmental studies)
2. Right-of-Way acquisition
3. Construction
*
Improving*Safety
There’s a significant decrease in accidents when multi-lane divided highways replace two-lane highways. GRIP provides effective and efficient transportation statewide, it is especially beneficial for rural areas where it not only provides greater connectivity, but also safer travel.
*
GRIP Corridors
GRIP includes 19 corridors (economic development highways) and three truck access routes for a total of 3,323 miles of roadway.

"Governor’s Road Improvement Program (GRIP) Current Status January 2017" (GDOT Map)
http://www.dot.ga.gov/BuildSmart/Pro...ap/GRIPMAP.pdf

With so many miles of new and expanded roadways through rural areas, there does not seem to be a lack of investment in roadway infrastructure for increased connectivity in the rural parts of Georgia.

Instead, a major problem seems to be the lack of investment in a multimodal infrastructure (in both roads and rail) in the heavily-populated Atlanta metropolitan area/region.

The existing Interstate system was notably expanded throughout many parts of the Atlanta metro area during the then-massive "Freeing-the-Freeways" reconstruction and expansion project of the 1980's. But the expansion of the existing surface arterial road system and the construction of new miles of freeway and surface arterial road has been hit-and-miss throughout many areas because of a notable aversion to large-scale road construction through and close to areas of heavy existing development by the metro Atlanta and North Georgia public.

When it comes to building new roads, it seems to have been the metro Atlanta public, not the rural Georgia public, that often has stood in the way of new road construction in metro Atlanta.

There have even been many road construction projects in rural Middle and South Georgia that have been downgraded from freeways to divided and/or multi-lane surface roads to appease a metro Atlanta and North Georgia public that has often seemed to frown heavily upon what they perceived to be unnecessary large-scale road construction projects.

The situation has been slightly different when it comes to transit (particularly rail transit) with many Atlanta outer-suburbs joining with exurban and rural areas to block rail transit lines from being extended from urban Atlanta to anywhere outside of Fulton and DeKalb counties.

[J2rescue]

I know that this outfit has changed their methodology but is it possible that the traffic has gotten substantially worse in the last five years along with a booming local economy? I don't typically deal with traffic but I have recently been on 400 and 85 during non-rush hour times and they have been a disaster every time. By the way I agree that 8th worst in the world is absurd but that doesn't mean that traffic is not still bad and getting worse.

Atlanta's US congestion rankings

2016 #4 - 71 Yearly hours of delay per commuter
2015 #9 - 59 hours
2014 #12 -52 hours

[sedimenjerry]

Originally Posted by J2rescue

I know that this outfit has changed their methodology but is it possible that the traffic has gotten substantially worse in the last five years along with a booming local economy? I don't typically deal with traffic but I have recently been on 400 and 85 during non-rush hour times and they have been a disaster every time. By the way I agree that 8th worst in the world is absurd but that doesn't mean that traffic is not still bad and getting worse.

Atlanta's US congestion rankings

2016 #4 - 71 Yearly hours of delay per commuter
2015 #9 - 59 hours
2014 #12 -52 hours

Oh it's definitely gotten worse. My first taste of commuting was in 2012 for summer works at my mom's office. Back then my mom left the house at 6 and traffic was 70+ on I 85. I could leave at 6:30 and not have any trouble. Traffic on 285 didn't start until around 3:30 and I could leave the office some days at 7 and not have any trouble. I know 75SB in the afternoon headed towards midtown and downtown was never backed up except maybe just to Northside drive.

Now, my mom leaves at 5:15 and sees about the same amount of traffic as she did years earlier 45 minutes later. When I would leave at 6 am this past winter there was already traffic on 85. If I left at 630 or even 615, 85 was already too backed up to be an easy commute. 285 regularly stays backed until past 7:30. 75 southbound now regularly backs up in the afternoon to around Moores Mill Rd.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by J2rescue

I know that this outfit has changed their methodology but is it possible that the traffic has gotten substantially worse in the last five years along with a booming local economy? I don't typically deal with traffic but I have recently been on 400 and 85 during non-rush hour times and they have been a disaster every time. By the way I agree that 8th worst in the world is absurd but that doesn't mean that traffic is not still bad and getting worse.

Atlanta's US congestion rankings

2016 #4 - 71 Yearly hours of delay per commuter
2015 #9 - 59 hours
2014 #12 -52 hours

From 2008-2010 traffic got lighter, but it has come back with a vengeance. When you get to a certain point, just a little more creates massively more problems. Atlanta was on the verge of that tipping point in 2008. I think we're now past it.

[walker1962]

Originally Posted by bu2

1. LA
2. Moscow
3. NY
4. San Francisco
5. Bogota
6. Sao Paulo
7. London
8. Atlanta
9. Paris
10.Miami

Don't know about Bogota, but the other 9 cities share something in common-Lots of miles of rail (Miami the least at 25 miles). Certainly 1, 2, 3, 4, 7 and 9 have some of the most extensive rail systems in the world. And Sao Paulo has 78 miles.

Sao Paulo proper has over 1 million MORE people than NYC, making 78 miles of rail very modest. For example Dallas and Plano Counties in Texas have DART Rail with 93 miles of light rail and there is a heavy rail line connecting downtown Dallas with Fort Worth 30 miles to the west. Dallas and Plano Counties have approximately 3 million residents, or 1/3 less than Sao Paulo.