Let's Leave I-85 Closed (Atlanta, North Atlanta: established neighborhood, assessment, transport)

[JPD]

We had a work meeting this morning and the general consensus was that traffic was lighter this morning than expected. I suspect tomorrow will be the true test, as some folks surely decided not to even bother with it today thanks to the scare campaign.

My commute through Boulevard/Sweet Auburn was roughly the same as it is on a normal week. Perhaps even a little lighter than normal.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by cwkimbro

It also affects many of the Southside commuters who work on the northside. I believe they are forgotten victims in this mess.

I have been thinking about that, too. You've got a ton of people who live in the COA or on the south and west sides of town who work up in the NE quadrant.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by JPD

We had a work meeting this morning and the general consensus was that traffic was lighter this morning than expected. I suspect tomorrow will be the true test, as some folks surely decided not to even bother with it today thanks to the scare campaign.

My commute through Boulevard/Sweet Auburn was roughly the same as it is on a normal week. Perhaps even a little lighter than normal.

If you are going that way to downtown, you aren't really impacted. Left about 10 minutes earlier in the afternoon and a 15 minute stretch in the impacted area took 25. Beyond that, closer to home, things were about normal, so overall it was still in that 40-50% range longer.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by cwkimbro

But on the bright side of things... it could have been far-far worse.

The original 1947 Lochner plan is what started the great genius of the connector and trying to find the cheapest way to build a freeway through the core.

At it's earliest plan what is now I-20 would have partially ended up on the Grady Curve.

Yes, that is right... there would have been a single section Lynch-pin where all freeways come together into one, even for just a short distance.



http://documents.atlantaregional.com...rplan_1946.pdf

Luckily, this plan was altered before it actually was built.

(Note: When reading this report most people need to take into some consideration at how small the footprint of Atlanta was in 1946 and how much smaller Atlanta was in general. It is why I would have opted for an inner loop over the connector; but citizens in 1946 wanted something to help them with their daily commute on existing federal highways)


Just wanted to throw this in: This was the 1954 plan that never came to reality...



http://www.dot.ga.gov/AboutGeorgia/C...nterstates.pdf

That is a good point that the Downtown Connector issues would have been much worse had the earliest freeway system routing plans (including the Lochner Plan) been executed as originally proposed routing I-20 onto the connector with Interstates 75 and 85.

Those are also some excellent points about how much smaller Atlanta was in both physical size and population at the time that the freeway system was originally routed through the city.

The materials within the excellent links reflects and touches on these and many other issues surrounding how Atlanta's freeway system came to be the freeway system that we know today.

Originally Posted by demonta4

I honestly wish we had finished 675 and 78 Freeways and routed the downtown connector in a loop around Downtown and not through it. There are smart ways to build freeways.

Originally Posted by cwkimbro

I believe we still have a few opportunities that are feasible, if we took them.

I think 675 would be a good candidate to extend to the curve on I-20. I wouldn't say there is nothing in their way, but the effects would be limited and not wide-scale... like the original 78/400/675/freedom pkwy plan.

It would be a boon for Clayton and Henry commuters and take the pressure off the connector and parts of I-20 are under-utilized.

I would probably install a single one-way toll booth in the middle of that segment and keep it to 2 lanes, beyond that we'd have to restructure I-20.

Originally Posted by cwkimbro

//www.city-data.com/forum/attac...ed-674to20.jpg

For fun... This is why in my comment to Demonta that I believe it is still possible to do this one change and it would bring more economic influence to Clayton and Henry counties.

Extending Interstate 675 north of I-285 to that I-20 East curve near the Fayetteville Road overpass is not a bad idea, particularly from a logistical standpoint.

But there would be multiple major challenges with such a proposal to extend I-675 north to I-20 East, the biggest of which would be that the proposed route of the I-675 extension to I-20 would run directly along two creek watersheds (the Intrenchment Creek and Sugar Creek watersheds).

The routing of the hypothetically proposed I-675 extension along the Intrenchment Creek and Sugar Creek watersheds would pose some major environmental challenges that likely would be extremely difficult to overcome.

The certain opposition of environmentalists (on the grounds that the superhighway would be routed along two creek watersheds) and local residents (likely on the grounds that the project would be routed through a predominantly black neighborhood) along with the widespread growing public paranoia that the project would be but only just the first leg of a longer extension of the I-675 roadway through ITP and Intown neighborhoods most likely would make such a project very difficult (if not impossible) to execute from a political standpoint.

[samiwas1]

Originally Posted by JPD

We had a work meeting this morning and the general consensus was that traffic was lighter this morning than expected. I suspect tomorrow will be the true test, as some folks surely decided not to even bother with it today thanks to the scare campaign.

My commute through Boulevard/Sweet Auburn was roughly the same as it is on a normal week. Perhaps even a little lighter than normal.

I know that my commute was almost doubled this morning. My commute home, if I leave around 6-ish (which is rare) is usually about 35 minutes on a normal day, 45 minutes on a bad day, and today was 52 minutes. To drop the kid off at school, my wife usually leaves at 7:25, drops him off at school 4.6 miles away, and is back home before 8:00am. She made it to school at 8:00am this morning...so more than double the normal time.

Originally Posted by cwkimbro

I'm not sure whats worse

The blind cherry-picking from google maps to prove a point.

Ignoring that many who do have a Northeast corridor to Midtown/Downtown commute are suffering and taking extreme measures right now (ie. there is a huge costs you're forgetting).

Completely ignoring that I-285 is far worse than normal. Many more commuters depend on that road too. People going to Perimeter, Cumberland, the airport, and Gwinnett. It also affects many of the Southside commuters who work on the northside. I believe they are forgotten victims in this mess.

Ignoring that the bottle necks affected by this on the few northside arterial roads are still red. Of course, things are green on the other side. Because enough cars can't get through the bottleneck as fast the capacity past the bottleneck exists.

So far you've proven nothing other than you're trying to make a point on the back of the pains of others.

Ding ding ding. I had an extensive reply worked up, then decided to just delete it. It's seriously like talking to a vegan or a Trump supporter. Absolutely nothing you say, no matter what level of evidence or proof you supply, will be enough. They are right, and that's all there is to it. If they want to believe that traffic was better or the same today, just let them believe it.

[JPD]

Originally Posted by bu2

If you are going that way to downtown, you aren't really impacted. Left about 10 minutes earlier in the afternoon and a 15 minute stretch in the impacted area took 25. Beyond that, closer to home, things were about normal, so overall it was still in that 40-50% range longer.

Well, we don't seem to have been impacted. But I'm quite surprised nobody seems to be using I-20 and Boulevard as an alternate to the I-85 mess. For people on the eastern portion of 285, 20 is a logical alternate to 85. Maybe all those folks are using Ponce and Dekalb instead.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by JPD

Well, we don't seem to have been impacted. But I'm quite surprised nobody seems to be using I-20 and Boulevard as an alternate to the I-85 mess. For people on the eastern portion of 285, 20 is a logical alternate to 85. Maybe all those folks are using Ponce and Dekalb instead.

Well 285 is packed. Haven't heard much about 20. It does curve way south as it heads out to 285 and its hard to get to from the north until Moreland. And Moreland has been dark red every time I have looked on the map.

[DJDeadParrot]

80 minutes from Berkeley Lake area to Clairmont@Century Center when it is normally ~45 minutes.

[JPD]

Originally Posted by bu2

Well 285 is packed. Haven't heard much about 20. It does curve way south as it heads out to 285 and its hard to get to from the north until Moreland. And Moreland has been dark red every time I have looked on the map.

There are numerous other routes to I-20 (Candler, Hairston to Wesley Chapel, 2nd to Flat Shoals or Gresham, Glenwood, etc.) But maybe none of those are better options. People have a propensity to only know one way to get places, and that is most definitely contributing to this mess. But I guess that works in my favor, so if nobody wants to entertain my suggestions then...thank you for not fouling up my commute.

[BELMO45]

GDOT has to do a better job notifying people somehow on the buford highway operation. They continue to randomly close access to it southbound off Sidney Marcus and nobody knows what it's open and when it's not. It was closed at 7am this morning now it's open again. This is over clogging Piedmont and Lindberg as people are coming down thinking they can use it and then realizing they can't.