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.
While the use of the term 'son' would be less than polite if used out of the blue, it was apropos in this context as CW was responding to a post with this exact quote:
"You old people don't like change."
Perhaps some equal opportunity chiding is in order.
Lol, old people. I'm definitely not old you probably older then me.
The plan is to have 95% of all cities in Georgia over 2500 people directly connected to an interstate using a 4 lane divided state highway. There are traffic lights, but minimal. Towns centers are generally bypassed.
Think of US 78 and GA 316 between Athens and Atlanta as examples.
or the rural portions of Tara Boulevard going south of Clayton County.
I've use a few of the routes between Tallahassee, Valdosta, and Tifton. They're pretty nice. You go slower than the interstates, but they keep moving. It is just odd, because there really isn't much traffic on many of these routes at all.
Why does this coalition care if a four laned road in the middle or southern part of the state has limited access instead of at grade crossings? To me, that is THE primary difference between the Fall Lane Freeway and being an Interstate. I know there are a few more requirements that CW mentions above, but for the life of me, does it being an interstate vs. being a four lane road really anger the factions that you mention that much? OVerpasses and entrance/exit ramps are that controversial?
YES!!!....An Interstate REALLY does anger the anti-roadbuilding factions in Metro Atlanta and North Georgia that much, mainly because the construction of a four-lane surface road is much-easier to hide from the highly-antagonistic Atlanta media (and the highway construction-averse Metro Atlanta/North Georgia public) than an Interstate-quality controlled-access highway which becomes a highly-visible, high-profile major road construction project the instant that it is announced.
The construction of at-grade four-lane surface roadways like the Fall Line Freeway and the Savannah River Parkway through largely rural and sparsely-populated South Georgia have been very-easy to hide because their construction was first announced in the late 1980's at about the same exact time that the construction of the highly-controversial Georgia 400 Extension through Buckhead and North Atlanta was first announced.
With the highly-controversial GA 400 Extension getting ALL of the attention from the Atlanta media and Metro Atlanta anti-roadbuilding groups, major South Georgia road projects like the Fall Line Freeway and the Savannah River Parkway basically went completely-unnoticed by Metro Atlanta anti-highway construction groups.
Because the construction of the Fall Line Freeway and Savannah River Parkway projects were announced at about the same exact time that the GA 400 Extension was announced, to this day most Metro Atlantans have not even the slightest clue that both the Fall Line Freeway and Savannah River Parkway are almost completed.
...And most of the very-few Metro Atlantans that might be aware of the Fall Line Freeway and Savannah River Parkway projects still think that the projects are still in the proposal stage.
(...I myself thought that both the Fall Line Freeway and Savannah River Parkway projects were still in the proposal stage until I found out in early 2013 that both projects were just about complete.)
The state's hiding of both major road construction projects was by design....That's because at the time that the state was planning the Fall Line Freeway and Savannah River Parkway projects, the state was also planning the GA 400 Extension and the Outer Perimeter.
The state knew that it would need all of its available political capital and public relations capital to complete the GA 400 Extension and Outer Perimeter projects, so the state decided to very-quietly build the Fall Line Freeway and Savannah River Parkway projects as at-grade 4-lane surface roads....Because attempting to build all 4 projects as very high-profile Interstate-quality controlled-access highways likely might have meant that NONE of the roads would have been built.
(...The GA 400 Extension was able to be completed because the rail transit component (the MARTA Heavy Rail Transit line running down the middle of GA 400 connecting the city with the Northern suburbs) was enough to placate Intown anti-highway construction activists and an often highway construction-averse Metro Atlanta public....Without the HRT line down the median of the expressway to placate Intown anti-highway activists, the GA 400 Extension likely would have had an infinitely much-harder time being built....The proposed Outer Perimeter/Northern Arc highway never got built because of the objection of the Atlanta media, the Metro Atlanta public, Intown anti-highway construction activists, environmentalists and outer-suburban/exurban landowners.)
Also, like CW explained excellently, attempting to construction the Fall Line Freeway and the Savannah River Parkway as high-visibility Interstate-quality controlled-access highways would have tapped directly into Metro Atlantans' very-strong perception that the construction of highways in South Georgia diverts resources away from transportation needs in Metro Atlanta.
Atlanta does not want roads to be built
in rural areas
Or anything that would take traffic away
From Atlanta
Atlanta would love things built that could take traffic away.
That would be a key selling point actually.
But it isn't as simple as... build it and they will come. There are geographic reasons a hub takes up so much attention from traffic and businesses.
We need to view the corridor's demand. There is now a road that connects Augusta, Macon, and Columbus. There is very little to stop people and commerce between the cities.
We need the corridor to grow as natural demand warrants it. We also need to the GDOT to preserve right of way and prevent curb cuts directly onto the Fall Line Freeway. It needs to be treated like a freeway to local planners and how businesses can/can't build along it.
These are all things that can slow down traffic and/or make changes to the roadway more expensive in the future.
Atlanta does not want roads to be built
in rural areas
Or anything that would take traffic away
From Atlanta
The problem is not necessarily as simple as Metro Atlantans not wanting roads to be built in rural areas.
Metro Atlantans and North Georgians mainly don't want new highways to be built in the highly-treasured heavily-wooded high foothills and low ranges of the Southern Blue Ridge and Appalachian mountains north of the city.
Metro Atlantans also (whether rightly or wrongly) do not precious resources to be diverted from Metro Atlanta's growing traffic gridlock mess to build little-used four and five-lane roads through sparsely-populated areas in South Georgia (...even though this poster and many North Georgians agree that there is a very-legitimate need for developmental roads to be built in Middle and South Georgia).
Like CW stated above, building new roads in Middle Georgia to take traffic away from Metro Atlanta would not be a difficult proposition if the State of Georgia had not severely-underinvested in Metro Atlanta's multimodal transportation network (trains, buses and roads) over the last 2 decades or so.
Metro Atlantans don't want new roads to be built in rural areas while Metro Atlanta's complex large-scale urban/metropolitan multimodal transportation needs continue to be largely-ignored by a state government dominated by politicians who grew up in an era when Metro Atlanta was much, much, much-smaller in size and population and the state of Georgia was much more rural, exurban and outer-suburban in nature.
It's not a problem if the State of Georgia builds new developmental and logistical roads in Middle and South Georgia just as long as the state also invests heavily in improving, upgrading and expanding Metro Atlanta's multimodal transportation network to the extremely-high level that it is sorely needed.
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.
