Has anyone's opinion on an Outer Perimeter / Outer Bypass changed? (Atlanta: 2013, subdivision)

[Carolina Knight]

What road do you want to build? Do you want another surface street with at-grade intersections and sprawl, or would you want a controlled access highway with grade separated interchanges to get through traffic off those surface streets?

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by Carolina Knight

What road do you want to build? Do you want another surface street with at-grade intersections and sprawl, or would you want a controlled access highway with grade separated interchanges to get through traffic off those surface streets?

If a Northern Arc/Outer Perimeter had to be built, I want it to only have freeway-to-tollway connections with no additional interchanges.

[hilltop180]

IMO the best plan would be to put a freeway from around Villa Rica and connect to I-75 near Cartersville. I think there is no way they would ever have the northern arc between Cobb and Gwinnett. Just way too much opposition from the citizens in that area.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by hilltop180

IMO the best plan would be to put a freeway from around Villa Rica and connect to I-75 near Cartersville. I think there is no way they would ever have the northern arc between Cobb and Gwinnett. Just way too much opposition from the citizens in that area.

And the Northern part will predominately benefit the residents. An eastern or western outer loop would get a lot of thru traffic out of the ITP area.

[samiwas1]

Originally Posted by bu2

And the Northern part will predominately benefit the residents. An eastern or western outer loop would get a lot of thru traffic out of the ITP area.

It's kind of funny how the same people who moan about all the outsiders using the inner metro highways are also against any sort of bypass to take that traffic around (or for it to even have been built).

[aries4118]

An Outer Perimeter should be built that is further out than originally planned. It would "ring around" the exurbs. It would also serve as a connector/pathway for secondary areas of Georgia.

During the era when it was originally proposed--the 1990s when Metro Atlanta's developmental pattern was out of control, developers ruled (especially in Gwinnett)--I thought the Outer Perimeter was a bad idea and should not have been built. It would've been horrible for North Georgia.

However, now that we have a saner approach to development and a metro area that seems to be becoming more open to alternative sorts of transport, I think the Outer Perimeter would be a great idea--and really, a necessity for the State of Georgia.

Keeping these tenets in mind:

1. Built further out than originally proposed (as stated above).
2. Very limited access with very limited exits.
3. Encircled by a "greenbelt" which will preserve greenspace and offer an awesome mega-circular hiking trail for North Georgia. {this would not be an urban growth boundary...it would just be preserved greenspace around the whole Outer Perimeter...preventing crazy sprawl while helping the environment and scenic beauty}
4. The Outer Perimeter would also aid secondary-to-secondary connections in Georgia. For example, an Outer Perimeter would make travel easier between:
a. Rome/Athens
b. Columbus/Athens
c. Macon/Athens
d. Rome/Columbus
e. Gainesville/Rome
f. Macon/Rome
g. etc...


//www.city-data.com/forum/53179388-post172.html
//www.city-data.com/forum/51647757-post2536.html

[SEAandATL]

Isn't GA 20 a fairly fast moving highway with limited stop lights, sort of like 400 in Dawson County?

[sedimenjerry]

Originally Posted by SEAandATL

Isn't GA 20 a fairly fast moving highway with limited stop lights, sort of like 400 in Dawson County?

The absolute opposite. Between Buford and Cumming it's tons of red lights and a lot of commercial and residential development. To me, that's exactly what we don't need. 400 north of GA-369 is more similar to GA-316 east of Lawrenceville. Designed to be a higher speed (55 to 65 mph speed limit vs 45) with fewer access points. I think they finally finished widening 20 between Cumming and Buford, but its fate is sealed. It will always be a road filled with local traffic.

West of Cumming it's still fairly busy with plenty of commercial development and subdivisions branching off. I remember riding with my dad on 20 and GA-369 from Canton headed to the east 10-15 years ago. We couldn't believe the amount of development all the way out there. It's nothing compared to Roswell, Alpharetta, etc. But we expected a completely rural road (at least for 369), something like what we might see in Hart County. I think only west of Canton is GA-20 relatively low traffic, but it's not designed to be a divided highway.

Back sometime in the mid 2000s I would peruse AJC articles online and the comments on them (I don't even know if they do that anymore) and on an article about the Northern Arc someone said to just widen 20. But 20 already had a lot of development even back then and has even more today. No one would take even a widened 20 to get around Atlanta between 85 and 75 on the north side. I remember quite a few times we would visit family in Woodstock from Snellville/Lawrenceville. Taking Holcomb Bridge Rd, it eventually turns into GA-92 and takes you right to Woodstock. But it was actually quicker to get on 85, go to 285, go up 75, and then up 575. Added 10 miles or so, but saved about 15 minutes because of all the red lights and lower speed limit.

[sedimenjerry]

Originally Posted by Gulch

If a Northern Arc/Outer Perimeter had to be built, I want it to only have freeway-to-tollway connections with no additional interchanges.

Definitely not every road, but I could see something like no more than every 10-15 miles. A lot of the older turnpikes are like this. FL Turnpike, PA Turnpike are two that come to mind. If not for the awful US 11 "interchange" where you have to drive through commercial development to get to the turnpike from I-81, I would have always used that to get around Harrisburg instead of using 581 or I-83. It felt like you weren't even in Harrisburg. Kinda similar in Philly on I-476 north of 276. You have to go ten miles deep into the suburbs before the first available exit. Then another 10 plus as which point you're closer to Allentown.

My dad and I saw something similar on the Natchez Trace Pkwy. Obviously it's meant to be a scenic drive, but they took care when designing it to keep it separated from local traffic. There is barely any uptick in traffic when going through Tupelo or even Jackson with the exception of a two mile stretch connecting I-55 with a local road. All of the sudden locals were filling up the road and it got real busy but past that, you would never have guessed you were in the middle of the suburbs. Blue Ridge Pkwy is another with few access points.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by samiwas1

It's kind of funny how the same people who moan about all the outsiders using the inner metro highways are also against any sort of bypass to take that traffic around (or for it to even have been built).

Very true.