Perimeter Mall area to Downtown Traffic (Atlanta, Dunwoody: apartment, house, live in)

[nimr0d]

Hi folks,

We will be moving this weekend in an apartment on Ashford Dunwoody Rd near the Perimeter Mall area.

Will be working in the Coke office downtown, how bad do you think traffic will be? Google maps is showing 20 mins which I'm sure will be more than that.

What would be the best time to leave to somewhat avoid traffic? Will 6am cut it?

Should I use GA400 or just use the N Druid Hills and exit onto I85?

Thanks.

[dens]

Oh that should not be bad at all...use GA 400...especially leaving at 6am...I live off 400 at exit 9 and work in midtown...I leave home around 6:20am and am at my desk by 6:55...it is a breeze...getting to 400 for you at that hour should be relatively easy I think.

[nimr0d]

Originally Posted by dens

Oh that should not be bad at all...use GA 400...especially leaving at 6am...I live off 400 at exit 9 and work in midtown...I leave home around 6:20am and am at my desk by 6:55...it is a breeze...getting to 400 for you at that hour should be relatively easy I think.

Sounds good, so it really depends what time you're off to work...thanks

So what time does the real pain really start?

[dens]

With the lighter mornings now...my pain starts at 6:45ish...once the fall gets here...do not venture close to 7am...as a general rule, no later than 6:30am and you are safe and the beauty is where you would get on the 400 which is south of 285, that is a very easy commute...most of the 400 traffic is north of 285. Now again, I cannot speak to your trip from home to 400.

[nimr0d]

Originally Posted by dens

With the lighter mornings now...my pain starts at 6:45ish...once the fall gets here...do not venture close to 7am...as a general rule, no later than 6:30am and you are safe and the beauty is where you would get on the 400 which is south of 285, that is a very easy commute...most of the 400 traffic is north of 285. Now again, I cannot speak to your trip from home to 400.

Cool, thanks.

[spacelord75]

Originally Posted by dens

With the lighter mornings now...my pain starts at 6:45ish...once the fall gets here...do not venture close to 7am...as a general rule, no later than 6:30am and you are safe and the beauty is where you would get on the 400 which is south of 285, that is a very easy commute...most of the 400 traffic is north of 285. Now again, I cannot speak to your trip from home to 400.

Not sure I agree 100% with this. I actually work right near Coke, so have the exact commute and I leave my house at 6:50-7am and have no problems getting to work in the 20-30 min. time frame every morning (I live in northern Dunwoody, and it takes me 8-10 minutes just to get to Abernathy to catch 400). I have noticed little difference leaving up to 7:15am, but then it seems to get worse rather quickly. By 7:30, it is pretty bad and by 7:45 it is horrendous, mainly due to logjams at 285, and again at where 400 merges into 85 (that is the worst part). As an extra tip, I would suggest exiting at the Williams St. exit (the one right after North Ave.) as it is way quicker to get to Coke from that exit (no traffic at all, whereas the North Ave. exit backs up pretty bad).

Going home, your worst problem is going to be simply getting to 85/75 north. Once you get on, it is not really that bad until around 5:30. You may move slow but it is not usually standstill. If you can somehow work a flex schedule to leave by 4:30pm, you are totally money. Once again, I would NOT use North Ave to get onto 85/75, instead cut over to Techwood Dr., take a right, then a left onto Ivan Allen, and you are right there ready to get on the interstate. If you try to get on Ivan Allen from Luckie st, you are screwed and it will take 15 min. just to get onto 75/85.

I leave work by 4:30 every day and it takes maybe 40 min., and most of that is spent on the side roads off the interstate.

Good luck!

[nimr0d]

Originally Posted by spacelord75

Not sure I agree 100% with this. I actually work right near Coke, so have the exact commute and I leave my house at 6:50-7am and have no problems getting to work in the 20-30 min. time frame every morning (I live in northern Dunwoody, and it takes me 8-10 minutes just to get to Abernathy to catch 400). I have noticed little difference leaving up to 7:15am, but then it seems to get worse rather quickly. By 7:30, it is pretty bad and by 7:45 it is horrendous, mainly due to logjams at 285, and again at where 400 merges into 85 (that is the worst part). As an extra tip, I would suggest exiting at the Williams St. exit (the one right after North Ave.) as it is way quicker to get to Coke from that exit (no traffic at all, whereas the North Ave. exit backs up pretty bad).

Going home, your worst problem is going to be simply getting to 85/75 north. Once you get on, it is not really that bad until around 5:30. You may move slow but it is not usually standstill. If you can somehow work a flex schedule to leave by 4:30pm, you are totally money. Once again, I would NOT use North Ave to get onto 85/75, instead cut over to Techwood Dr., take a right, then a left onto Ivan Allen, and you are right there ready to get on the interstate. If you try to get on Ivan Allen from Luckie st, you are screwed and it will take 15 min. just to get onto 75/85.

I leave work by 4:30 every day and it takes maybe 40 min., and most of that is spent on the side roads off the interstate.

Good luck!

Thanks for the tips, especially going back home. I will probably plug that route in Google Maps, I'm not to familiar yet with the streets you've mentioned.

[Tristan840]

There are a couple good back roads you can take, which are definitely nice when the highways jam up, especially on a Friday afternoon or right before a holiday weekend. Im sure you will learn em quick, good thing is being in the Perimeter mall area you basically are roughly the same distance to any part of Atlanta you want to go to, which is a plus!

[johnatl]

Have you considered taking the train? I would be very surprised if Coke didn't run it's own shuttle to/from the North Ave. Station.

[kayrob]

Originally Posted by johnatl

Have you considered taking the train? I would be very surprised if Coke didn't run it's own shuttle to/from the North Ave. Station.

I was going to say that. And it's not a bad walk either. I just did it a couple of weeks ago when I was workiong at Coke for a day. Maybe about 10 minutes. And I got to see the Georgia Tech stadium for the first time.