I-285 toll lanes could harm Dunwoody (Atlanta, North Atlanta: wages, storage, lawsuits)

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by toll_booth

Sounds good in theory. In practice, people assume that their homes won't be taken by the state government so that more lanes which will fill up anyway can be built.

If they absolutely have to build these express lanes--and that is a big "if"--they need to build them up, not out. Yes, it would be time to double-deck the freeways.



At some point there is going to have to be an east-west freeway across North Georgia. Engineering challenges be damned, there is no simple way to get between Chattanooga and Upstate South Carolina. The top-end perimeter needs to cease being the bottleneck of a major east-west truck thru route.

Upgrade railroad between the 2, a much more efficient means of transporting freight. GPA is building an inland port near Chatsworth and Gainesville to remove trucks from Atlanta.

[toll_booth]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Upgrade railroad between the 2, a much more efficient means of transporting freight. GPA is building an inland port near Chatsworth and Gainesville to remove trucks from Atlanta.

A big obstacle to commuter rail in metro Atlanta has been all the single-track freight rail routes. Perhaps upgrading all the major lines to 2+ tracks would help with both problems.

[Gulch]

Looks like people are getting quite upset:

https://www.reporternewspapers.net/2019/02/11/residents-decry-toll-lanes-fear-they-will-destroy-communities/

Construction of new toll lanes along the top end of I-285 could create a “dead zone” in Dunwoody, and cause some property values to sink in Brookhaven, according to residents attending a Feb. 10 meeting with Georgia Department of Transportation representatives. In Sandy Springs, some residents living on Northgreen Drive were recently informed their homes are in the way of planned of toll lanes along Ga. 400 and could be part of a property taking.

Close to 100 people packed into a classroom at the North DeKalb Cultural Arts Center in Dunwoody for the GDOT meeting hosted by the Dunwoody Homeowners Association. Residents from all three cities expressed skepticism the toll lanes, including toll lanes standing up to 30-feet high, would alleviate the notorious traffic along the busy corridors that are among the most congested in the nation. Several also expressed anger about how they believe the major traffic projects would affect their quality of life.

“You’re going to destroy every single community along I-285 and you don’t care,” Mark Jeffers angrily told GDOT representatives near the end of the approximate two-hour meeting. “You’re going to destroy our neighborhoods, our communities, our cities, so people can get to work faster?”

Jeffers lives on Brawley Circle in Brookhaven, adjacent to I-285 with a sound barrier wall to mitigate noise. Their neighborhood is across the interstate from Dunwoody’s Georgetown community.

At the beginning of the meeting, Robert Wittenstein, former DHA president, asked what the city could do to stop the planned toll lanes that would run along the Georgetown community where residents live and businesses operate, but without a sound barrier.

“This will create a dead zone that nobody will want to live near,” Wittenstein said following the lengthy GDOT presentation that has been made at several other area community groups.

“How do we get you to change your direction? How can we get you to stop … [and build] something that is beneficial and useful and is a magnet to people instead of repelling them?”

The projects are planned but nothing has been approved, according to Tim Matthews, GDOT project manager. But the process to get these project approved are well underway as part of an $11 billion statewide transportation mandate from former Gov. Nathan Deal.

[jsvh]

I agree with them.


Find a way to put congestion tolls on the existing lanes to keep them moving. No extra lanes are needed.

[citydwelling]

“You’re going to destroy our neighborhoods, our communities, our cities, so people can get to work faster?”

Pretty much everyone who lives in the City of Atlanta near a state-owned road can relate to this.

[Need4Camaro]

Holy Astericks $11 Billion?!?!

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by Need4Camaro

Holy Astericks $11 Billion?!?!

If I recall correctly, I think that figure is the amount of additional revenue that will be collected over about a decade or so from a fuel tax increase for roads that was passed by the Georgia General Assembly back in 2015.

[Need4Camaro]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

If I recall correctly, I think that figure is the amount of additional revenue that will be collected over about a decade or so from a fuel tax increase for roads that was passed by the Georgia General Assembly back in 2015.

Is that how and why these additional interchange and road projects came to be realized? It seems just recently out of nowhere they started on some fairly extensive projects.

As for the HOT lanes on the top end... I dont know what to really say. I dont like how they are being implemented at all (skyways on both sides of the interstate robbing property and will be a huge eye sore to locals. I can definitely see why people would have an issue with them. I think it would have been much more innovative if they were dug under the median of I-285 kind of like LBJ I-635 but there's areas where that may be a bit impractical (like the slew of overpasses between Spaghetti Junction all the way to Chamblee Dunwoody Rd.)

On the other hand that area is only going to get worse and worse as Atlanta continues to grow and those areas continue to be job hubs so it's not exactly easy to ignore the needs of infrastructural improvement in that area.

I still think though if the tax could be used on transit, it would go alot farther than this project however.

[primaltech]

The proper fix for I-285 congestion is an outer perimeter, which would be a true bypass of Metro Atlanta, which I-285 has not been for decades.

The proper fix for GA-400 congestion is to extend heavy rail to Windward Pkwy.

What kills me is that both of these things were planned.

[primaltech]

This official GDOT plan right here should have been (and should still be) built:



With the Northern Arc section as the most critical, Phase 1. Just to get some of these interstate trucks and tankers off the Top End. Reducing congestion and freeing up capacity for local vehicles, without new lanes.