Atlanta getting too crowded (Dallas: store, housing, land)

[Need4Camaro]

Yea I know. I forgot who I was proposing this to.

Next time I propose road infrastructural upgrades I'm going to try to guess which gif I'm going to receive in response and if I guess right maybe I'll get a rep point or something

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by Need4Camaro

Yea I know. I forgot who I was proposing this to.

Next time I propose road infrastructural upgrades I'm going to try to guess which gif I'm going to receive in response and if I guess right maybe I'll get a rep point or something

The high cost of tunneling makes this project impossible, unlike Seattle we have granite bedrock. Thru traffic should not be using the Downtown Connector, and use the Atlanta Bypass (I-285)

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by cqholt

The high cost of tunneling makes this project impossible, unlike Seattle we have granite bedrock. Thru traffic should not be using the Downtown Connector, and use the Atlanta Bypass (I-285)

How deep can you go before you hit granite? Seems like there's a pretty thick layer of red clay.

There's already been a significant amount of tunneling in the Atlanta area. Hasn't a good bit of it gone though rock?

[Need4Camaro]

Originally Posted by cqholt

The high cost of tunneling makes this project impossible, unlike Seattle we have granite bedrock. Thru traffic should not be using the Downtown Connector, and use the Atlanta Bypass (I-285)

They proposed to extend GA-400 to I-675 underground at one point, albeit it was a very brief proposal, it did seem like it was fundamentally 'possible' - albeit very expensive and extreme opposition - it was considered...so it may be possible.

The Atlanta Bypass is no longer really a Bypass, its an inner-city interstate and in most cases when it comes to thru traffic, its almost always faster to just go through Downtown.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by arjay57

How deep can you go before you hit granite? Seems like there's a pretty thick layer of red clay.

There's already been a significant amount of tunneling in the Atlanta area. Hasn't a good bit of it gone though rock?

eg: Peachtree Center Station

[samiwas1]

Originally Posted by cqholt

The high cost of tunneling makes this project impossible, unlike Seattle we have granite bedrock. Thru traffic should not be using the Downtown Connector, and use the Atlanta Bypass (I-285)

285 is hardly a bypass. It runs right through some of the largest business centers in the southeast, and thus feeds them. It is also pretty congested for a good portion of the day, making it not a much better option. In addition, it can add anywhere from 3-10 miles to the trip, depending on route.

Atlanta should have built an actual bypass.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by samiwas1

285 is hardly a bypass. It runs right through some of the largest business centers in the southeast, and thus feeds them. It is also pretty congested for a good portion of the day, making it not a much better option. In addition, it can add anywhere from 3-10 miles to the trip, depending on route.

Atlanta should have built an actual bypass.

I have to agree. We need another loop further out. Maybe two of them.

Can you imagine how this town would blow up if we had that kind of capacity?

[Need4Camaro]

Originally Posted by arjay57

I have to agree. We need another loop further out. Maybe two of them.

Can you imagine how this town would blow up if we had that kind of capacity?

It would become a second Houston and trust me, you DONT want that to happen.

An outer loop is severely needed however, but one with strict building and zoning policies, tolls, and limited exits, mainly a way to diverge freight traffic from the metro.

I dont know.

Atlanta, especially the northern part of Atlanta was really dealt a bad hand in this arena. If they built more cross connecting freeways in the north, while sorely needed - it would definitely increase development around those nodes even more than what is currently seen and eventually the fears that masses that revolted against the Northern Arc would be realized that development would eventually reach the foothills of the blue ridge area. It would be a massive place but it would also wreck the environment. Problem is, Atlanta is out of 'feasible' room to expand and it's still growing.

This is kind of why I really wished they had built out MARTA rail because I feel its truly Atlanta's last hope at any kind of relief of traffic congestion. It's just not quite as practical in Northern Atlanta to design a highway system like what's seen in DFW. At first hand it looks like it is but it isnt...

Noone specifically moves to an area because a highway is there, but industries move to those locations due to logistical advantages, just like how Toyota moved to DFW because they could be near a freeway and be within feasible reach of employees. If Atlanta did that, and Toyota came, they would not have been the only industry to settle, several more will too...and with jobs attracts people who eventually move within the area thus eventually clogging another route. It does take time but it would happen and eventually that highway becomes obsolete. DFW can easily get away with it because there isnt as much in the form of nature like the blue ridge area making expensive infrastructure very practical for them. Even if those routes clog, they can adjust, build more, or expand transit.. nothing stopping them, but in the metro not only do you have the geographical restrictions but also politicians who turn pale at the thought of MARTA rail entering their territory.

I cannot fault GDOT, they really did try their best given what they were dealt with. (Limited budget, some of the most extreme opposition in the nation) they did have a comprehensive highway system planned in the books but it got shut down. Then any MARTA rail expansion doesn't even get a whiff of a thought... what can they really do?

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by Need4Camaro

It would become a second Houston and trust me, you DONT want that to happen.

An outer loop is severely needed however, but one with strict building and zoning policies, tolls, and limited exits, mainly a way to diverge freight traffic from the metro.

I dont know.

Atlanta, especially the northern part of Atlanta was really dealt a bad hand in this arena. If they built more cross connecting freeways in the north, while sorely needed - it would definitely increase development around those nodes even more than what is currently seen and eventually the fears that masses that revolted against the Northern Arc would be realized that development would eventually reach the foothills of the blue ridge area. It would be a massive place but it would also wreck the environment. Problem is, Atlanta is out of 'feasible' room to expand and it's still growing.

This is kind of why I really wished they had built out MARTA rail because I feel its truly Atlanta's last hope at any kind of relief of traffic congestion. It's just not quite as practical in Northern Atlanta to design a highway system like what's seen in DFW. At first hand it looks like it is but it isnt...

Noone specifically moves to an area because a highway is there, but industries move to those locations due to logistical advantages, just like how Toyota moved to DFW because they could be near a freeway and be within feasible reach of employees. If Atlanta did that, and Toyota came, they would not have been the only industry to settle, several more will too...and with jobs attracts people who eventually move within the area thus eventually clogging another route. It does take time but it would happen and eventually that highway becomes obsolete. DFW can easily get away with it because there isnt as much in the form of nature like the blue ridge area making expensive infrastructure very practical for them. Even if those routes clog, they can adjust, build more, or expand transit.. nothing stopping them, but in the metro not only do you have the geographical restrictions but also politicians who turn pale at the thought of MARTA rail entering their territory.

I cannot fault GDOT, they really did try their best given what they were dealt with. (Limited budget, some of the most extreme opposition in the nation) they did have a comprehensive highway system planned in the books but it got shut down. Then any MARTA rail expansion doesn't even get a whiff of a thought... what can they really do?

All this talk our building an outer loop or a western freeway, why not upgrade existing roads (GA 53, US 27, Alt US 27) to super arterial roads. Grade separated interchanges at busy intersections and at-grade crossings at low traffic roads. eg: US 43 in Middle Tennessee.

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by samiwas1

285 is hardly a bypass. It runs right through some of the largest business centers in the southeast, and thus feeds them. It is also pretty congested for a good portion of the day, making it not a much better option. In addition, it can add anywhere from 3-10 miles to the trip, depending on route.

Atlanta should have built an actual bypass.

When I-285 was completed in 1969, it was an actual bypass.