Give me your best routes!! (Atlanta, Smyrna: home, buy, ferry)

[Acworthcommuter]

I tried McCollum to Chastain to East Piedmont to Roswell Road today and that was 1 hour 20 minutes so it saved 10 minutes. I'll try the Shallowford route and let you know how it goes. I'll also try the Wileo and Azalea tip to see if that helps.

Thanks for the helpful suggestions!

[Saintmarks]

Originally Posted by Acworthcommuter

I tried McCollum to Chastain to East Piedmont to Roswell Road today and that was 1 hour 20 minutes so it saved 10 minutes. I'll try the Shallowford route and let you know how it goes. I'll also try the Wileo and Azalea tip to see if that helps.

Thanks for the helpful suggestions!

Get on Google maps and look at some of the back roads in the far west part of Roswell. You would have some zigging and zagging, but Shallowford would lead you to some roads that would take you through far East Cobb into Roswell and shoot you down to Wileo. Might cut off a few more minutes.

When I looked for shortcuts, I would isolate the major bottlenecks and look for ways around them. If Roswell backs up majorily at Johnson Ferry (for example) then the Shallowford Road option could take you north of that.

Get a map and study the back roads. Having a good knowledge of all the arterials in an area can make a huge difference.

[Saintmarks]

If you are doing the Chastain to Piedmont section, try turning left off Piedmont on to Sandy Plains for about half a mile or less, then right onto Post Oak Tritt. This will wind you thru East Cobb and becomes Wileo Road once you cross the Fulton County line into Roswell. There is a dog leg to the left and then to the right as Wileo comes into Coleman Road, but this would put you right at 120 to go straight across and do the Azalea Dr cutoff to 9.

Go on Google Maps and see what I'm saying. These are all old farm roads from when the area was rural, so they often times don't make much sense for the area now that it is so suburbanized.

[RainyRainyDay]

Originally Posted by Saintmarks

If you are doing the Chastain to Piedmont section, try turning left off Piedmont on to Sandy Plains for about half a mile or less, then right onto Post Oak Tritt. This will wind you thru East Cobb and becomes Wileo Road once you cross the Fulton County line into Roswell. There is a dog leg to the left and then to the right as Wileo comes into Coleman Road, but this would put you right at 120 to go straight across and do the Azalea Dr cutoff to 9.

Go on Google Maps and see what I'm saying. These are all old farm roads from when the area was rural, so they often times don't make much sense for the area now that it is so suburbanized.

I've tried taking Post Oak Tritt heading east from Sandy Plains after an early morning Lassiter H.S. drop-off a couple of times, and both times it was way slower getting over to Johnson Ferry than just taking Shallowford, busy as Shallowford is. So I still recommend the OP try Chastain ... New Chastain ... Blackwell ... Shallowford ... even though that may look a bit needlessly northerly. Now I wouldn't go all the way to Atlanta St on Shallowford / Pine Grove. Looking at Google maps, maybe McPherson down to Post Oak Tritt, shortly after crossing Johnson Ferry, would work. Then follow some of Saintmarks' suggestions.

Well, at least we have some ideas to try!

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by toll_booth

Which way are you trying now? 75 -> 285 -> 400?

I think Jackalope may be right; try Roswell Rd. (Cobb Co.) -> Atlanta St., which becomes a different Roswell Rd. (Fulton Co.).

Gotta love this place and its naming different roads the same name!

Historically, I suspect it once made sense ... both roads were roads to Roswell from their respective locations.

[Jackalope]

Originally Posted by Acworthcommuter

My current route is taking Due West to Cobb Pkwy (41) and then taking the 120 loop to Roswell Road and then to Atlanta Street.....90 minutes.

Then I think I'd start looking at books on tape or moving. It's not going to get any better.

[hellomrwest]

Seriously, unless Cobb and Fulton invest in some sort of Intercounty Connector (such as the one being built in D.C.'s northern maryland suburbs), you may want to consider moving to an area like Buckhead, Sandy Springs, New Northside Dr., or Dunwoody. There really are no direct roads that traverse the county, other than GA 120 (there is Old Alabama Road, but that is heavily congested with traffic from N. Cobb into So. Cherokee County.....and you will need to go WAAYYY outta your way to reach it.). I suggest that those in that part of the metro lobby for some sort of ICC or Northern Arc.......

(thinks to myself....Gee...if Cobb had allowed MARTA into their jurisdiction 30 years ago, perhaps they could have built some sort of rail across the Northern Crescent. Dont you just it when Jim Crow and his buddies take their effect on Southern city planning!? lol.....smh)

[xavier132487]

Go to Google Maps, put in your starting destination and end destination, and draw out your own commute using surface streets and back roads. If you click on the shaded line that traces your route, you can actually change the streets you take and it will show that on the directions.

[Acworthcommuter]

Saintmarks,

Tried your route and I'm down to 1 hr 10 min - 1hr 15 min. Thanks for you help. I have no desire to move....I love my house, my kids schools, my church and my new job on Northridge. I just wanted to try some other alternative routes to shave off some time. Luckily every Friday my new job closes at 4:00 p.m. and schools will be out of session soon so that helps!

[Saintmarks]

Originally Posted by Acworthcommuter

Saintmarks,

Tried your route and I'm down to 1 hr 10 min - 1hr 15 min. Thanks for you help. I have no desire to move....I love my house, my kids schools, my church and my new job on Northridge. I just wanted to try some other alternative routes to shave off some time. Luckily every Friday my new job closes at 4:00 p.m. and schools will be out of session soon so that helps!

Great to hear! I would think there might be some tweaking you could do in West Cobb as well, not as familiar with rush hour bottlenecks on that side of the county. I lived off of Bells Ferry just north of Cobb Pkwy, so I didn't have to tend with traffic coming from the western end. I am sure that is up to half your time, just getting past the logjams of West Cobb roads leading into 75 and 41.

The logical choice would be 120 into Marietta, but since no solution has ever come up for the bottleneck as it narrows down to Whitlock, that would probably rule that out.