Georgia DOT eyes tunnel, double-deck for Downtown Connector

[RoadWarrior56]

Commuter rail in the Atlanta area would be a total money pit.  Very few people work in the city center.  The traditional downtown is relatively rundown.  There are several newwer "city centers" scattered around, including Midtown, Buckhead, Sandy Springs/Dunwoody, Cumberland area, etc.    Most of the traffic that clogs the road in metro Atlanta is suburb to suburb.  I work in one section of one of the metro counties, work in another section of it.  Commuter rail would be totally useless to me.

[berberry]

Commuter rail in the Atlanta area would be a total money pit.  Very few people work in the city center.  The traditional downtown is relatively rundown.  There are several newwer "city centers" scattered around, including Midtown, Buckhead, Sandy Springs/Dunwoody, Cumberland area, etc.    Most of the traffic that clogs the road in metro Atlanta is suburb to suburb.  I work in one section of one of the metro counties, work in another section of it.  Commuter rail would be totally useless to me.

Yeah, I shouldn't have used the phrase 'city center' because I think the emphasis should be on connecting all the counties and towns with each other as well as with Atlanta. In New York, it's quick and easy to go almost anywhere. The same should be true in Atlanta. It should be irresistibly attractive to use rail rather than car to commute around the metro.

[RoadWarrior56]

Trying to compare Atlanta and New York is like Apples and Oranges times 10.  There is NO comparison.  NYC is compact and densely populated.  Fixed rail transit works in a place like that, and is about the only way to move large numbers of people around.

Atlanta is MUCH more spread out and not densely populated.  Atlanta is Los Angeles with trees and rain.  But unlike LA, Atlanta has far fewer freeways and a disjointed surface street system that is primarily oriented radially.  Everybody complains about traffic around here, but NIMBY's reign surpreme.  Most of the people who want commuter rail are either planners or affluent people who hope the other guy rides it.

[berberry]

Trying to compare Atlanta and New York is like Apples and Oranges times 10.  There is NO comparison.  NYC is compact and densely populated.  Fixed rail transit works in a place like that, and is about the only way to move large numbers of people around.

The cities themselves aren't so comparable, I agree, but I think their traffic is. I only meant to compare the ease and speed of moving around town. Atlanta has a lot of attractions, spread over a wide area, plus a lot of business districts, as you pointed out earlier. Neighborhoods are spread out all over the place. I think that a good transit rail system in Atlanta could go a long way to relieving freeway and street traffic. As I see it, the biggest obstacle is politics. I don't see that changing any time soon, so we'll probably end up with highway tunnels or elevated thru lanes, which would be very ugly I think. I just believe that Atlanta is large enough and has traffic heavy enough to justify an alternative people-moving system.