Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Ask my eight neighbors who are about to get their homes taken by GDOT for the GA 400 express lanes, as well as the rest of us that have to deal with a 30+ foot high viaduct towering over our houses.
I guess "it's not a big deal."
It is incredibly selfish to buy property in a major city right beside its main loop/bypass,whose growth has raised the value of all of your assets....
And think that your single rights on your little piece of property trump doing what's for the greater goods of the community.
Every other state razes thousands of properties paying fair or above value prices to land/home owners to build infrastructure that benefits everyone.
Raleigh's outer loop is beginning the next to last section (to complete the loop) and after years of studying about 10 different routes, will necessitate the demolition of hundreds of homes.
It's understood there that the greater good comes before your individual attachment to a property.
Georgians want to benefit and feed off Atlanta and not contribute anything in return.
That attitude is at the heart of so many of this state's shortcomings.
The opposite of unity.....fracturing into more and more new towns that duplicate services, less efficiency as a result.
Rail is the answer. Redesigning those lanes in a sense that will take as few properties as possible while leaving them it aesthetically pleasing in a sense of not looking like elevated skyroads abruptly annihilating the forestry there would require digging, very very very expensive and the overall added capacity (and even regional connectivity) would not be worth it. An effective rail system with suburban BRT / ART with signalized priority connectivity between stations, residences, businesses and job hubs would give commuters the ability to completely bypass traffic and areas around stations would even be able to co-exist without a need for a vehicle to begin with making living near job hubs more feasible. These lanes are going to make developments they serve as well as future developments more car dependent in a region that is already limited to how much road space can be allocated for that node of transportation while also making the region planners more aggressive to construct highways as a solution in areas where density and transit coordination is needed while as the metro continues to grow while mass-transit is overlooked, the need for more automobile infrastructure will also increase where in an urban area, especially Atlanta...balance is needed.
Roads and highways are okay but when it becomes the ONLY thing the city focuses on expanding it becomes very problematic.
Rail isnt innocent in the aspect of receiving opposition, both politically in proposing and then route planning, but its effects would be much more effective. Getting rid of traffic, you're not going to do regardless how many lanes or roads... the answer is to be able to bypass it which rail will do while allowing reliable commutes
Tearing down the trees and building these Express lanes literally tears away at the identity of Atlanta.
TBH despite Atlanta's traffic issues, the more I see this project, the more I hope it really doesnt come to pass and somehow they get on board with MARTA or atleast Commuter Rail
Managed lanes won't increase car dependency because to keep them flowing at 45mph or faster, only a set amount of traffic can be using them at once.
But with the ability to regulate the toll to discourage too many users, buses and vans could use them & have almost the equivalent of their own lanes and priority signaling.
The managed lanes could in theory become all HOV if they wanted, and 1 or 2 occupant vehicles could have the option to use them if they pay a really high toll, like Virginia's I-66 inside the Beltway which is about $45 in the morning for single occupant cars to go just a few miles.
These managed lanes can be controlled, and are smart in their own right.
The ugly rivers of concrete without heavy landscaping or tree buffers will hurt this state tremendously as far as its appeal.
EVERYONE PLEASE VOICE YOUR CONCERNS on GDOT's website, if enough people protest, perhaps it will sink in their thick heads that these proposals need beautifying.
It is incredibly selfish to buy property in a major city right beside its main loop/bypass,whose growth has raised the value of all of your assets....
And think that your single rights on your little piece of property trump doing what's for the greater goods of the community.
Every other state razes thousands of properties paying fair or above value prices to land/home owners to build infrastructure that benefits everyone.
Raleigh's outer loop is beginning the next to last section (to complete the loop) and after years of studying about 10 different routes, will necessitate the demolition of hundreds of homes.
It's understood there that the greater good comes before your individual attachment to a property.
Georgians want to benefit and feed off Atlanta and not contribute anything in return.
That attitude is at the heart of so many of this state's shortcomings.
The opposite of unity.....fracturing into more and more new towns that duplicate services, less efficiency as a result.
In ways I agree but in others I disagree. The problem with this project is... after all the razings are done - its still going to have a negligible overall affect in comparison to the growth the region is incurring over the next 10 years so everyone who was booted lost their property for the weakest method of impact. There are more effective means of handling commuters but sadly politicians tremble at the idea of sharing transit lines with the rest of the metro. I-285 is already HUGE. You've been to NC more than enough times I'm sure. Name one Interstate in NC as wide as top-end I-285... and you can see, it isn't enough... the problem isn't so much that I want to see road infrastructure neglected but more so that I would much rather see smart future planning of which has the capacity to handle more people over a much longer duration of time than 2 extra tolled lanes price gouged only to allow those with the money to pay for them to use them, and make a note that even they will still have no alternative means of commuting. That is the problem... there are no ALTERNATIVES and that is seriously needed in Atlanta.
I-285 is already HUGE. You've been to NC more than enough times I'm sure. Name one Interstate in NC as wide as top-end I-285... and you can see, it isn't enough...
Name one metro in NC that comes even close to the population of the Atlanta metro. The largest metro in NC is Charlotte at 2.6 million, less than half that of Atlanta's. Yet, they have almost the exact same freeway layout. Raleigh/Durham has a population much less than Atlanta's, but they have a larger freeway network.
When you have as few large roads as Atlanta does, those roads have to be larger. Because twice as many lanes on a road doesn't equal twice as much throughput, as more lanes tends to slow things down.
Name one metro in NC that comes even close to the population of the Atlanta metro. The largest metro in NC is Charlotte at 2.6 million, less than half that of Atlanta's. Yet, they have almost the exact same freeway layout. Raleigh/Durham has a population much less than Atlanta's, but they have a larger freeway network.
When you have as few large roads as Atlanta does, those roads have to be larger. Because twice as many lanes on a road doesn't equal twice as much throughput, as more lanes tends to slow things down.
In truth even here in Texas. DFW and Houston dont have freeways / tollways with as many lanes as I-285 top-end with the exception of Katy Freeway in Houston and the 114/121 multiplex in DFW. Most of their highways are about 4 - 5 lanes each way. What they benefit from is having more of them so they dont have to funnel all the regional capacity onto just one road meaning they don't need to build them as wide. I've driven all over the country and there are very few roads as wide as I-285 topend. Most of Atlanta's freeways are very wide, the problem isnt the capacity but that they are limited in regional connectivity (and also other bottlenecks at interchanges and surface streets)
Atlanta would better benefit from having better regional connectivity alternates than adding capacity to existing clogged arteries but given that it is nearly impossible to construct alternate toll-roads at this point, Atlanta would be better to install means of bypassing traffic altogether while retaining reliable commutes. An elaborate transit system would do this over a much longer period of time. It would in a sense future proof the metro in terms of its growth. The toll lanes wont induce demand, those will be people who would have moved to Atlanta anyway but they will still be focused on only a single transportation dependency and will do little to nothing toward enabling the metro to become more resourceful in terms of transportation capacity in transit, parking, even road expansion. Atlanta isnt like DFW. DFW has infinite room to grow without much environmental impact. There is nothing in the way like seen in Atlanta to hault it. Atlanta's very identity is buried in its forestry, hills and the Blueridge so deeply that the thought of it swelling in that same approach triggers massive backlash.
What I am saying to do for Atlanta is rather than riding the train of opposing the backlash of alternate highways, which in turn could result in absolutely nothing getting done - is to become more innovative in moving people between destinations in the form of transit as it would incur a much small ecological footprint and disturb fewer (if any) natural barriers.
These toll lanes are basically GDOT's last ditch effort and it will help those willing to pay for them (while also tearing down the tree buffers) but they are by no means a long term solution for a region that will be pushing 8 million people. The toll lanes themselves may be free flowing but the rest of the common people who cannot afford to use them will still be stuck in traffic.
What I am saying to do for Atlanta is rather than riding the train of opposing the backlash of alternate highways, which in turn could result in absolutely nothing getting done - is to become more innovative in moving people between destinations in the form of transit as it would incur a much small ecological footprint and disturb fewer (if any) natural barriers.
I don't think many of these projects' supporters truly understand the large amount of land these lanes will take up and the significant amount of tree cover and residential/commercial property that's going to be wiped out for them.
I don't think many of these projects' supporters truly understand the large amount of land these lanes will take up and the significant amount of tree cover and residential/commercial property that's going to be wiped out for them.
I visited Atlanta not long ago and noticed all the trees on Peachtree Dunwoody Rd between the Hospital and the I-285 overpass completely eradicated for the GA400 interchange reconstruction. I couldn't believe how different the area looked as in...night and day... Now the 400 / 285 interchange I can understand for safety purposes as the left lane merges are an issue but eradicating all the trees on topend I-285 for these elevated skyways that are going to cost $5 billion and still have a limited impact on regional mobility as a whole is not something I could vouch for. I get Atlanta needs more highways but it still needs to be done in a stategic sense and not just throwing up pavement everywhere they can.
I don't really see Atlanta (or mainly especially Northern Atlanta which borders some heavily sensitive natural features) as a traditional metro that can get away easily with building a road network like seen in DFW and Houston. Atlanta would be rightfully innovative by designing reliable transit means... I love driving but i do recognize cars have limitations in terms of commuting. You trade capacity for flexibility when driving. Now i'm not saying that cars should be eliminated and everyone should be tolled but that concentrating only on road infrastructure especially when there is present many commuters who want and would benefit from transit would be cancerous, it would be a desire that could never truly be satisfied.
I visited Atlanta not long ago and noticed all the trees on Peachtree Dunwoody Rd between the Hospital and the I-285 overpass completely eradicated for the GA400 interchange reconstruction. I couldn't believe how different the area looked as in...night and day... Now the 400 / 285 interchange I can understand for safety purposes as the left lane merges are an issue but eradicating all the trees on topend I-285 for these elevated skyways that are going to cost $5 billion and still have a limited impact on regional mobility as a whole is not something I could vouch for. I get Atlanta needs more highways but it still needs to be done in a stategic sense and not just throwing up pavement everywhere they can.
Pretty sure, the CD lanes will go all the way to Peachtree Dunwoody. I thought, they began at Roswell and continue over to Peachtree Dunwoody but I could be wrong.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
