Major Atlanta road projects on I-20 W, I-75 S, I-285, GA-400 delayed as GDOT reshuffles construction schedule (Macon: Home Depot, transfer)

[Born 2 Roll]

Georgia officials have reshuffled their plans for major highway construction projects in metro Atlanta, delaying some work and allowing private companies to set tolls on some new lanes.

The timeline for new toll lanes on the Perimeter and Ga. 400 will be pushed back, though it’s not clear how long. So will a new I-285 interchange at I-20 west of Atlanta and truck lanes on I-75 between McDonough and Macon. It’s the second time in recent years the Georgia Department of Transportation has shifted procurement schedules for the projects.

The state also plans to allow a private company to set toll rates and collect the revenue from the Ga. 400 lanes. It announced similar plans last summer for the Perimeter toll lanes.

Major road projects delayed as Georgia reshuffles schedule - Georgia DOT will also allow a private firm to set tolls on Ga. 400 (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

[primaltech]

GA-400 OTP has 4 lanes each way. If this was really about managed lanes, they could convert one of them, for a fraction of the cost and time. Really though it's just about adding more lanes to cram more cars on (because widening always solved traffic congestion before).

The project that North Fulton really needed, was the MARTA heavy rail extension to Alpharetta. Was a golden opportunity to allow people to bypass driving on 400. But since that apparently can never happen, they should make the existing GA-400 a managed/variable tolled freeway.

Encourage more people to take the bus, and telecommuting, etc.

[Mossberg]

I have a feeling that these delays will cause the cost of the projects to rise. Materials and labor get more expensive every year that you wait. Sounds like the taxpayers will get screwed twice with higher construction costs and higher tolls by the private entity. SMH

[Datdudebrah]

In a perfect world the state would reconsider the impacts of these projects and what's really appropriate to build in 2030.

SR 400 -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8qZatHfWI8

I-285 Top End -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyHoyGsn9FQ

[cparker73]

Originally Posted by primaltech

GA-400 OTP has 4 lanes each way. If this was really about managed lanes, they could convert one of them, for a fraction of the cost and time. Really though it's just about adding more lanes to cram more cars on (because widening always solved traffic congestion before).

The project that North Fulton really needed, was the MARTA heavy rail extension to Alpharetta. Was a golden opportunity to allow people to bypass driving on 400. But since that apparently can never happen, they should make the existing GA-400 a managed/variable tolled freeway.

Encourage more people to take the bus, and telecommuting, etc.

Aside from money, is MARTA heavy rail to Alpharetta totally dead for future consideration even 30 years from now when it will really be needed? I'd like to see rail in Gwinnett and East Dekalb and more in-town connectivity with Emory and "West Midtown", too, but one or two more stops on 400 feel about right.

[Gulch]

In addition to these projects being ridiculous, here's the real kicker:

In June, GDOT announced it would seek private investment in its $6.1 billion effort to build toll lanes on the Perimeter. In exchange, GDOT will allow the selected firm to set tolls for the new lanes and collect the revenue for 50 years. The state sets the price on metro Atlanta’s existing 67 miles of toll lanes.

GDOT says the private investment will allow it to build more lanes than originally planned. But the new approach also delayed the construction timeline, and a private firm might charge higher tolls than the state to earn a profit.

Meanwhile, in August the State Transportation Board rejected the lone responsive bid to build the Ga. 400 toll lanes because it far exceeded the agency’s $1.7 billion budget. The timetable for the project is uncertain.

Basically, every individual involved in being a signatory to this contract will most likely be dead by the time it expires in the 2070s.

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by cparker73

Aside from money, is MARTA heavy rail to Alpharetta totally dead for future consideration even 30 years from now when it will really be needed? I'd like to see rail in Gwinnett and East Dekalb and more in-town connectivity with Emory and "West Midtown", too, but one or two more stops on 400 feel about right.

If the 400 lanes get built, even if they was built so that it didn't preclude a future MARTA rail extension, it would be even more impossible to build rail from a political and financial standpoint.

[cparker73]

Originally Posted by Gulch

If the 400 lanes get built, even if they was built so that it didn't preclude a future MARTA rail extension, it would be even more impossible to build rail from a political and financial standpoint.

It figures that GDOT is really just a road construction agency. Maybe they can do elevated lines similar to the flyover south of the Buckhead station. People need to get over the expense because we're talking about once-a-century projects that could do something to shape development of the region and reign in the sprawl with more TODs.

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by cparker73

It figures that GDOT is really just a road construction agency.

I mean, it took them 20-something years after their name was changed to GDOT to finally strip the "State Highway Department" signage from their old Capitol Square HQ. Old habits die hard.

[primaltech]

Originally Posted by cparker73

It figures that GDOT is really just a road construction agency. Maybe they can do elevated lines similar to the flyover south of the Buckhead station. People need to get over the expense because we're talking about once-a-century projects that could do something to shape development of the region and reign in the sprawl with more TODs.

It's never been about the dollars and cents. Opposition to public transportation in the GA suburbs has historically been because of "we don't want that element" (you know...). Areas like Alpharetta fear the growth of anything urban that would spoil their self-image as a clean, sheltered, mostly white area.

Anyway, in theory at least, if done right and includes space for quality BRT stations to be integrated with it, the buses running in managed lanes vision could be a somewhat decent compromise, and a sort of workaround/backdoor way to let GDOT road dollars go towards helping transit expansion. (Kind of.)

Top half of I-285 BRT line in managed lanes especially makes sense (again, if done right), because they were never seriously going to build rail along there. It would be a fairly good way to connect the 2 MARTA north lines, and with Cobb County (Cumberland and the Home Depot HQ), and Tucker. And the parts of Sandy Springs and Dunwoody that are along the way.

The bus stations would need to be in-line in the median of the freeway, with pedestrian bridges or access.



I think that could eventually be a decent way to connect the metro, just not as ideal as extending the rail would have been. It's just financially and politically never going to happen with rail, especially heavy rail.

I guess extending the Gold line to Jimmy Carter or Gwinnett Place is still maybe a future possibility, depending on Gwinnett's next eventual transit plan and vote (after every attempt so far has failed), but I'm not holding my breath on that.

The Red line extension is totally dead, sadly. That was always the one corridor where it legally could have been expanded north, without the need for a new county to join. So, as a result, you may be able to take a BRT line from North Point mall eventually, but you will have to transfer at North Springs just to change modes to rail to continue south in the same direction. Rail would have offered a one-seat ride all the way to the airport.