What is UP with Interstate 75 through GA? (Atlanta, Macon: money, cities)

[Ollie1946]

It is interesting that the original post was June 2007 and here the discussion continues. Young friend reports that the Tifton area is a huge speed trap on the interstate. Fines are doubled even though there are no workers in the construction area and the person stopped does not get to see the radar reading because it is still up the road waiting for the next "speeder". I have no idea of the truth of this, but it is being run by local police out of Tifton. Of course anyone who gets a ticket is convinced it is in a speed trap. Best slow down big time in Tifton area though.

Personally, I take the alternate roads but then I am not in a hurry to get to Florida or anywhere else.

[bripearce]

Whose idea was it to make I-75 so hideous south of Macon? Driving up from Florida, the contrast is startling--south of the border, there's a wide green median and more trees than ads along the shoulders. From Valdosta up to Macon, 75 has become a charmless concrete juggernaut, flanked by double-decker billboards with little space between them and little taste to them. It's no better along the once pretty shoulders of the roadway. Between the constant calls to stop by for porn, pecans and flesh pressing, one can barely see the farmland anymore. The sign at the Florida border should be edited to read, "We're glad Georgia is on your mind; we Georgians are out of ours."

[Crew Chief]

Originally Posted by bripearce

... "We're glad Georgia is on your mind; we Georgians are out of ours."

I LIKE it!!!

[southgeorgia]

Originally Posted by bripearce

Whose idea was it to make I-75 so hideous south of Macon? Driving up from Florida, the contrast is startling--south of the border, there's a wide green median and more trees than ads along the shoulders. From Valdosta up to Macon, 75 has become a charmless concrete juggernaut, flanked by double-decker billboards with little space between them and little taste to them. It's no better along the once pretty shoulders of the roadway. Between the constant calls to stop by for porn, pecans and flesh pressing, one can barely see the farmland anymore. The sign at the Florida border should be edited to read, "We're glad Georgia is on your mind; we Georgians are out of ours."

I can only assume it was cheaper to add lanes on the inside, as expanding outward would've required rebuilding all of the overpasses. Some of them were actually jack up several inches to add vertical clearance.

Building inward required that terrible wall though.

Just be glad you didn't have to live through it; 12 years start to finish in valdosta to add two lanes in a 30-mile stretch; bankrupt contractors, funding shortages, contract disputes, and a governor that refused to answer questions about it. We lived with a two-lane interstate (one lane each direction) for several years. I witnessed several fatalities happen in front of me, including watching a truck driver burn to death. And I somehow made it out of a pile-up through a one-lane stretch.

[GAstudent]

Originally Posted by bripearce

Whose idea was it to make I-75 so hideous south of Macon? Driving up from Florida, the contrast is startling--south of the border, there's a wide green median and more trees than ads along the shoulders. From Valdosta up to Macon, 75 has become a charmless concrete juggernaut, flanked by double-decker billboards with little space between them and little taste to them. It's no better along the once pretty shoulders of the roadway. Between the constant calls to stop by for porn, pecans and flesh pressing, one can barely see the farmland anymore. The sign at the Florida border should be edited to read, "We're glad Georgia is on your mind; we Georgians are out of ours."

A good question, and it's disgusting really. The endless, unnecessary billboards get very old, very quickly, and what's with all the porn ones, seriously??? The interstate itself is smooth, but we would all prefer pine trees, cotton fields, rolling hills and farmland to crappy,nonsense-covered canvas.

[Craziaskowboi]

Originally Posted by GAstudent

A good question, and it's disgusting really. The endless, unnecessary billboards get very old, very quickly, and what's with all the porn ones, seriously??? The interstate itself is smooth, but we would all prefer pine trees, cotton fields, rolling hills and farmland to crappy,nonsense-covered canvas.

Georgia has much more lax billboard standards compared to other states. Regulating billboards more would probably lead to cries of "socialism."

Good news: The bumpy segment of I-75 in Houston and Dooly Counties that I was talking about is about to get reconstructed. They're moving in temporary barriers between MM 127 and about MM 116 or so. Apparently they're rebuilding that part first, and the rest of it down to MM 106 will be rebuilt afterward.

[Stars&StripesForever]

I don't like the proliferation of billboards along Georgia's interstates, particularly I-75 and I-85. I-75 in southern and middle Georgia seems to be the worst. How many times must the state look trashy to outsiders with the words, "Strippers: Need we say more"?

[GAstudent]

Originally Posted by Gnutella

Regulating billboards more would probably lead to cries of "socialism."

.

Yes, very true but unfortunately that mentality seems to stifle more than a few good ideas that are not 'socialism' but common sense

[neil0311]

Originally Posted by Gnutella

Georgia has much more lax billboard standards compared to other states. Regulating billboards more would probably lead to cries of "socialism."

If you go to Tennessee, the ride on I-24 between Chattanooga and Nashville is great, and there are very few billboards. You can hardly accuse TN of being a "socialist" state.

[southgeorgia]

Originally Posted by neil0311

If you go to Tennessee, the ride on I-24 between Chattanooga and Nashville is great, and there are very few billboards. You can hardly accuse TN of being a "socialist" state.

that's because chattanooga does all their advertising on billboards in south georgia.