Georgia

[lordsutch]

Has anyone else noticed that the 511GA site now shows mile markers on the map, and in the case of state routes, the mileage doesn't reset at county lines? Maybe Georgia will start to change the actual mile markers posted

https://511ga.org/

Possibly; our counties are small enough that 911/511 operators may have trouble uniquely identifying crash locations and the like. It would make some sense to use statewide mileage now that GDOT seems to be installing enhanced location signs on at least some projects (like GA 96 in Houston County).

[Tom958]

Yesterday I noticed that the erroneous signage westbound on GA 316 approaching the Sugarloaf Parkway-Harbins Road exit has been corrected. I don't get over that way much-- the corrected signs are on Streetview from June 2023. Basically, the earlier signs tried to illustrate what lane to be in for the ramp split beyond the exit, but screwed up the lane assignments in doing so. Also, in posting about it on Facebook, I discovered that a substantial proportion of people read the earlier legend as "Sugarloaf Harbins/Parkway Road," thereby failing at its intended purpose.

First sign, first try. It indicates that only one lane continues on the mainline.

First sign, second try. It's noncompliant with the MUTCD, but at least it's not flat-out wrong. I find this scheme to be intuitive and hence easy to understand, but there's a substantial proportion of the motoring public whose brains go tilt when they see a vertical separator line directly over an arrow, whether it's a down arrow like this or an up arrow on an APL.

Second sign, first try. The center arrow is a split arrow with the straight side greened out. What a masterpiece.

Second sign, second try. Now it's a normal APL. It's compliant, but there might be last-second lane changes by people who don't realize until the next overhead that they need to get out of the right lane to get on Sugarloaf. Too bad schemes like this are now considered hopelessly confusing. 

[MASTERNC]

In any case, wouldn't it be easier to open any other E-ZPass account is surrounding states to get around this issue, until hard case is offered?

Well there's no confirmation that hard case is ever going to be offered by Peach Pass. The website says that the interoperability is coming soon for the rest of the E-ZPass region, without specifying how it is going to happen.

My understanding is that this will be accomplished via the individual EZ-Pass IAG members adding multi-protocol RFID tag readers that support SeGo and 6C in addition to the original TDM protocol as part of their regular equipment upgrades at their toll collection facilities. Interoperability with the IAG will need to be enabled on a per-agency basis because it requires the home agency (the issuer of the tags, so PeachPass in this instance) to accept the IAG's standardized transaction control format into their billing systems.

I have not seen any indication that GDOT will be installing any TDM readers on its facilities so I am left to assume there will not be any reciprocity with the IAG. My advice to Georgia residents who regularly drive in EZ-Pass territory is to get an NC Quick Pass hard-case transponder (or a FLEX model, which I have) that supports all three protocols and will work along the entire East Coast without potential compatiblity shenanigans.

My guess is Pennsylvania will accept Peach Pass once it converts to open road tolling over the next few years.  No sense in retrofitting all of the existing toll plazas when they will soon be deactivated and demolished.

[The Ghostbuster]

You'd better not speed in Georgia, or it might cost you $1 million: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/10/16/georgia-speeding-ticket-1-4-million/71205273007/.

[Rothman]

You'd better not speed in Georgia, or it might cost you $1 million: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/10/16/georgia-speeding-ticket-1-4-million/71205273007/.

Well, no, it won't...

[Plutonic Panda]

You'd better not speed in Georgia, or it might cost you $1 million: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/10/16/georgia-speeding-ticket-1-4-million/71205273007/.

Well, no, it won't...

Yeah total clickbait but still absolutely stupid to even this policy in the first place.

[US 89]

I don't mind the required court appearance for super speeders. This isn't even news. Technical errors like that happen all the time.

[D-Dey65]

Is there any possibility that this site on US 17 in Midway might've been a former rest area or truck weigh station?
https://www.google.com/maps/@31.8097151,-81.4305631,3a,75y,10.09h,102.96t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sw9akch3WmchaC6y5NIn9uA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en&entry=ttu

[roadman65]

https://www.dot.ga.gov/InvestSmart/GRIP/Facts/SR40FactSheet.pdf
What does beyond STIP mean on project construction date on fact sheet page 3?

[Rothman]

https://www.dot.ga.gov/InvestSmart/GRIP/Facts/SR40FactSheet.pdf
What does beyond STIP mean on project construction date on fact sheet page 3?

Heh.  It means it isn't funded for construction currently.

[roadman65]

https://www.dot.ga.gov/InvestSmart/GRIP/Facts/SR40FactSheet.pdf
What does beyond STIP mean on project construction date on fact sheet page 3?

Heh.  It means it isn't funded for construction currently.

What I figured.  Like everything else, it has to wait for opportunity.

[roadman65]

https://www.aaroads.com/ga/285/i-285-e-exit-020-3.jpg
I see the current I-285 c/d roadway at I-75 near Smyrna, is the preexisting freeway that always was I-285 prior to the interchange upgrade.  The current freeway is new and the engineers left the original freeway to facilitate movements between I-285 and I-75 as well as nearby freeway ramps

Interesting redo, I must say.

[ran4sh]

https://www.aaroads.com/ga/285/i-285-e-exit-020-3.jpg
I see the current I-285 c/d roadway at I-75 near Smyrna, is the preexisting freeway that always was I-285 prior to the interchange upgrade.  The current freeway is new and the engineers left the original freeway to facilitate movements between I-285 and I-75 as well as nearby freeway ramps

Interesting redo, I must say.

For several of the freeway-to-freeway interchanges in Metro Atlanta, there was a similar upgrade where there's clear evidence that what is now a ramp used to be the mainline.

[Finrod]

Has anyone else seen what Atlanta/Sandy Springs is planning to do to the Johnson Ferry/Mt. Vernon area?

The short version is, they're getting rid of the one-ways between where those cross and Roswell Road to the west, and replacing them with two parallel roads that do not intersect.  The parking lot east of the library will be turned into a connector road between them.  So you'll be driving on Johnson Ferry and suddenly it'll turn into Mt. Vernon, or vice-versa.  As weird as this sounds, it's still better than the alternative that they were considering, which involved two roundabouts.

https://www.sandyspringsga.gov/johnson-ferry-roadmt-vernon-highway-improvement

[Tom958]

Has anyone else seen what Atlanta/Sandy Springs is planning to do to the Johnson Ferry/Mt. Vernon area?

The short version is, they're getting rid of the one-ways between where those cross and Roswell Road to the west, and replacing them with two parallel roads that do not intersect.  The parking lot east of the library will be turned into a connector road between them.  So you'll be driving on Johnson Ferry and suddenly it'll turn into Mt. Vernon, or vice-versa.  As weird as this sounds, it's still better than the alternative that they were considering, which involved two roundabouts.

https://www.sandyspringsga.gov/johnson-ferry-roadmt-vernon-highway-improvement

Seems like a decent idea. I prefer the compressed alternate.

[CanesFan27]

Highways, their routes, controversies, and politics are always tangled together.  This was certainly the case with the routing of Interstate 85 in northeast Georgia.

A new Governor changes the planned route that happens to be closer to his hometown. A former highway engineer claimed that the prior administration told him to stop studying one corridor in favor of another that happened to be near the hometown of a highway official.

In the end - in about two years time - the routing of Interstate 85 north and east of Atlanta shifted southwards.

So, what really happened in Georgia highway politics in the late 1950s? Did Vandiver order changes to the route for personal gain? Or was the Griffin administration ignoring the recommendations of their own highway department's engineers?  The full truth may never be known, but the one certainty is highways and politics will always be intertwined.

A feature on how Interstate 85 would find its path through northeast Georgia. (including some corridor maps, impact on South Carolina, and good old-fashioned politics.)

https://www.gribblenation.org/2023/12/all-freeway-politics-is-local.html

[mrsman]

Has anyone else seen what Atlanta/Sandy Springs is planning to do to the Johnson Ferry/Mt. Vernon area?

The short version is, they're getting rid of the one-ways between where those cross and Roswell Road to the west, and replacing them with two parallel roads that do not intersect.  The parking lot east of the library will be turned into a connector road between them.  So you'll be driving on Johnson Ferry and suddenly it'll turn into Mt. Vernon, or vice-versa.  As weird as this sounds, it's still better than the alternative that they were considering, which involved two roundabouts.

https://www.sandyspringsga.gov/johnson-ferry-roadmt-vernon-highway-improvement

Seems like a decent idea. I prefer the compressed alternate.

This is a common approach in a lot of areas where there are two streets that meet at a very sharp angle, especially if one or both are low traffic.

It exists in many places all over Washington DC because of the heavy use of diagonal streets.

It existed at Times Square (before Broadway was pedestrianized) to divide the traffic between Broadway and 7th Ave.

Hollins and Frederick are separated in Baltimore:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Baltimore,+MD/@39.286817,-76.6462069,17z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x89c803aed6f483b7:0x44896a84223e758!8m2!3d39.2903848!4d-76.6121893!16zL20vMDk0anY?entry=ttu

Ave P and Kings Highway in Brooklyn (but there is still a slip lane for EB Kings Highway to Kings Highway traffic)

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Avenue+P,+Brooklyn,+NY/@40.6115578,-73.9512599,17z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x89c244ea9f812b89:0x35f58369a773174a!8m2!3d40.6101927!4d-73.9604547!16s%2Fg%2F1yl45xwzt?entry=ttu

Rockaway Freeway and Beach Channel in Rockaway Beach, NY:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Rockaway+Beach,+Queens,+NY/@40.5904996,-73.8109221,18z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x89c26876363711a3:0xe5c433c345d63995!8m2!3d40.5860224!4d-73.8166259!16zL20vMDR2a25n?entry=ttu

In all of the above cases, this exists with a grid.  Having connectors to utilize the streets that are avoided are critical for this to work.  Good signage is also key.

[Gnutella]

GA 316 UPDATES

Not sure if it's been mentioned yet, but through traffic on GA 316 was shifted to the future ramps at GA 11 a few months ago, and the bridge piers to carry GA 316 over GA 11 are now under construction. When this interchange is finished, GA 316 will have 11 miles of uninterrupted, signal-free highway from Carl-Bethlehem Road to GA 211.

I still think GDOT should make building an overpass at Carl-Bethlehem Road a much higher priority, especially with construction of the West Winder Bypass interchange imminent. Doing that would increase the length of uninterrupted highway to 16 miles, and leave only two traffic signals in Barrow County, at Kilcrease Road and GA 211.

[Georgia Guardrail]

Are there any plans to reconstruct the I-16, I-516 interchange in Savannah?  I think they are adding an extra lane to I-16 southbound over I-516 but that interchange looks a mess.  It's very similar to the old I-285/SR 400 interchange in Atlanta with the ramp entrances on the left side.

[Tom958]

GA 316 UPDATES
I still think GDOT should make building an overpass at Carl-Bethlehem Road a much higher priority, especially with construction of the West Winder Bypass interchange imminent. Doing that would increase the length of uninterrupted highway to 16 miles, and leave only two traffic signals in Barrow County, at Kilcrease Road and GA 211.

I think a case could be made for simply closing Carl-Bethlehem Road there. Traffic could use Haymon Morris, Roxey Maxey, and Tom Miller Roads instead, or 316. Maybe leave it as a pair of RIROs until the Winder Bypass interchange is done to keep from dumping too much traffic in the construction zone.

[freebrickproductions]

I noticed last night that GA 140's widening west of Adairsville is finally nearing completion. The two carriageways were fully paved and striped, though still being used as one-lane, save for this bend, where they are still building the new westbound carriageway. This will be one less annoyance on the shortest route between Huntsville and Atlanta when it's finally done.

[Tom958]

I noticed last night that GA 140's widening west of Adairsville is finally nearing completion. The two carriageways were fully paved and striped, though still being used as one-lane, save for this bend, where they are still building the new westbound carriageway. This will be one less annoyance on the shortest route between Huntsville and Atlanta when it's finally done.

I learned via Peach State Roads on Facebook that the original contractor had to be replaced, which is why it's been taking so long.

[Tomahawkin]

I'm not surprised? I'm sure that there were contractors that had to be replaced in the 400/285 interchange? The World trade Center site was rebuilt sooner than the time it's taking to complete the 400/285 interchange, SMH

[D-Dey65]

How close is the reconstruction of the I-95/I-16 interchange in Pooler to being finished? The GDOT website doesn't have any updates that I can find.
https://1695improvements-gdot.hub.arcgis.com/

[Great Lakes Roads]

https://peachpass.com/e-zpass/

Peach Pass is now accepted in all 18 E-ZPass states (except for poor Michigan)!