GDOT to build truck only lanes on I-75 between Macon and Atlanta

[afguy]

While I mentioned this project in the Georgia thread, I feel that it deserves its own thread. I believe this project will certainly be one of the first, if not the first truck only lane project in the U.S. I believe this project will certainly help with the expected increase in freight traffic between Savannah and Atlanta.

The new lanes will provide "separation for trucks from the normal passenger cars. So that's definitely a safety improvement, that's definitely a mobility improvement," Georgia Department of Transportation Commissioner Russell McMurry said Tuesday.

McMurry was speaking at a news conference led by Republican Gov. Nathan Deal to unveil the list of projects that will be funded by several tax and fee changes made last year.

Deal said the projects will reduce congestion and make Georgia's roads safer.

The Legislature passed a new $5 fee per night on hotel and motel stays and new charges for alternative fuel vehicles. Lawmakers also changed the gasoline tax to a tax on volume of gas instead of the sales price, resulting in a rise of five to six cents a gallon when the law went into effect.

Some Republicans called it a big tax increase and refused to vote for it. The bill that contained all the changes, House Bill 170, only passed after contentious debate and with some Democrat support.

The measures in House Bill 170 are expected to raise about $700 million for transportation in the fiscal year that ends in July, McMurry said. The following year, the measures are projected to raise about $830 million.

Read more here: http://www.macon.com/news/local/politics-government/article54295830.html#storylink=cpy

http://www.macon.com/news/local/politics-government/article54295830.html

[noelbotevera]

What about pickup trucks, U-Hauls, vans, minivans, sports trucks...*snooze*

[ARMOURERERIC]

I would be curious how limited access control will be on the new lanes?  Only interstates? Maybe Us Routes as well.

[xcellntbuy]

The construction of truck lanes will be a very significant project.  I would expect an even further widening of Interstate 75 south of Macon after the merger of the Interstate 475 bypass and the exit for Sardis Church Road.  There is also a need for rehabilitation and repaving of the travel lanes on Interstate 75 as far south as Warner Robins.

[afguy]

While I'm glad GDOT is adding these lanes and rebuilding the I-16/I-75 interchange in Downtown Macon, it boggles my mind that the stretch between Arkwright Rd and the 475 north terminus will remain 4 lanes. IMO, GDOT needs to widen that 8 mile stretch in North Macon/Southern Monroe Counties. There's a lot of growth happening in that area and the growth of freight traffic doesn't help. Could you imagine the traffic nightmare that will create squeezing 4/5 lanes of traffic coming south from Atlanta into 2 lanes! GDOT needs to get on the ball and widen that section ASAP.

[Henry]

This is an interesting concept! It would be nice to segregate large trucks from the other traffic, but will it do anything to alleviate the traffic woes on that stretch of I-75, particularly around Atlanta? Probably not, but it's definitely a start.

[jeffandnicole]

Maybe I'm missing something, but per the article:

ATLANTA -- Georgia plans to build separate lanes for large trucks on Interstate 75 northbound between Interstate 475 in Macon and exit 155 in McDonough as part of the state's transportation plan.

Exit 155 is where 475 & 75 meet south of Macon.  North of Macon is the other end of 475, at Exit 177.  I-75's McDonough exits are 216 & 218.

And is this project only supposed to add lanes on Northbound I-75...or did they mean North of Macon?

For those not familiar with the NJ Turnpike's Car/Truck lanes, the roadways are mainly 3 lanes each; 6 lanes per direction (a small stretch is 3 lanes for cars, 4 lanes for trucks, for 7 lanes per direction).   While Cars are only permitted in the Car Only lanes (inner roadway), all vehicles including cars can use the Truck lanes (outer roadway). 

However, Trucks are still prohibited from the left lane of the truck lanes.  For most of the stretch of the dual-dual highway as it's termed, trucks are still limited to just 2 of the 6 lanes.   This doesn't seem to be a problem though, as while it certainly appears trucks take up a high percentage of the traffic, they move perfectly fine in just those 2 lanes.

When the truck roadway is closed for whatever reason...or even just a ramp from an interchange to the truck lanes, trucks are permitted to use the Car Only lanes without penalty.

[froggie]

I believe this project will certainly be one of the first, if not the first truck only lane project in the U.S.

Not the first.  There's a roughly 2-mile-long set of truck-only lanes on I-5 at the I-210/CA 14 megajunction north of Los Angeles that have existed for 30 years.  According to CalTrans, there is another set of truck-only lanes on southbound I-5 and southbound CA 99 at their merge south of Bakersfield...the goal being to keep the truck merge separate from the car merge.

[cpzilliacus]

I believe this project will certainly be one of the first, if not the first truck only lane project in the U.S.

Not the first.  There's a roughly 2-mile-long set of truck-only lanes on I-5 at the I-210/CA 14 megajunction north of Los Angeles that have existed for 30 years.  According to CalTrans, there is another set of truck-only lanes on southbound I-5 and southbound CA 99 at their merge south of Bakersfield...the goal being to keep the truck merge separate from the car merge.

There was also the effort by Virginia to force trucks to use a (tolled) trucks-only set of lanes along the I-81 under the Commonwealth's Public-Private Partnership Act.  I think the consortium that was to build them was called Star Solutions, but the project died - if memory serves, there were legitimate concerns about forcing the trucks to pay tolls but allowing cars to continue to use the 320+ miles of I-81 in Virginia for "free."

There is still a page on the VDOT Web site about the project here.

[lordsutch]

Maybe I'm missing something, but per the article:

ATLANTA -- Georgia plans to build separate lanes for large trucks on Interstate 75 northbound between Interstate 475 in Macon and exit 155 in McDonough as part of the state's transportation plan.

Exit 155 is where 475 & 75 meet south of Macon.  North of Macon is the other end of 475, at Exit 177.  I-75's McDonough exits are 216 & 218.

I believe this is actually GA 155, which is where the (currently under construction) express lanes will end. I think the AJC just made a mess of the article.

Honestly I figured GDOT would just add a general purpose lane in each direction and then wash their hands of it until they decided the express lanes would pay for themselves by being extended to Forsyth.

[The Ghostbuster]

I would build the truck lanes over a much longer length. Or is that impractical for the corridor?

[Revive 755]

Are these truck only lanes being setup so all trucks have to use them, or is this going to be similar to the once proposed truck only lanes on I-70 across Missouri where trucks get lanes they can use in the median, but  trucks can still use the regular lanes as well, and any trucks that want to exit from the truck only lanes have to weave through the passenger vehicles to access the exit ramp?

[codyg1985]

It probably hasn't gotten far enough along for those details to emerge.

[Buck87]

Are these truck only lanes being setup so all trucks have to use them, or is this going to be similar to the once proposed truck only lanes on I-70 across Missouri where trucks get lanes they can use in the median, but  trucks can still use the regular lanes as well, and any trucks that want to exit from the truck only lanes have to weave through the passenger vehicles to access the exit ramp?

I guess there would be weaving involved no matter which side of the "car" lanes they put these truck lanes on....unless they go full on separation like the NJTP. It'll be interesting to see what they come up with.

[RoadWarrior56]

I live in the Atlanta area and my only problem with the concept of truck only lanes on that section of I-75 is that they will end near McDonough.  Once northbound trucks zoom along I-75 to reach that location what are they supposed to do then?  They will sit in traffic just like they do now.  Unfortunately the Atlanta area is a giant bottleneck, and nobody has come up with a solution for that yet.

[codyg1985]

Are these truck only lanes being setup so all trucks have to use them, or is this going to be similar to the once proposed truck only lanes on I-70 across Missouri where trucks get lanes they can use in the median, but  trucks can still use the regular lanes as well, and any trucks that want to exit from the truck only lanes have to weave through the passenger vehicles to access the exit ramp?

I guess there would be weaving involved no matter which side of the "car" lanes they put these truck lanes on....unless they go full on separation like the NJTP. It'll be interesting to see what they come up with.

I have a feeling they won't go full on NJTP style on it. I imagine it will involve some slip ramps between the truck lanes and the general purpose lanes.

[jeffandnicole]

Are these truck only lanes being setup so all trucks have to use them, or is this going to be similar to the once proposed truck only lanes on I-70 across Missouri where trucks get lanes they can use in the median, but  trucks can still use the regular lanes as well, and any trucks that want to exit from the truck only lanes have to weave through the passenger vehicles to access the exit ramp?

I guess there would be weaving involved no matter which side of the "car" lanes they put these truck lanes on....unless they go full on separation like the NJTP. It'll be interesting to see what they come up with.

I have a feeling they won't go full on NJTP style on it. I imagine it will involve some slip ramps between the truck lanes and the general purpose lanes.

NJTP style is extremely expensive.  You're literally building 2 highways with separate entrances and exits.

With the NJ Turnpike, they have an agency specifically on duty 24/7/365 to manage the lanes.  If an incident occurs, they can quickly close gates to the roadway with the incident, diverting all traffic to the unaffected roadway.  GDOT would need something similar if they were to adapt the NJ Turnpike's method of traffic control. 

[Tom958]

It's not at all obvious to me why they wouldn't just eight or ten lane it and walk away instead of dealing with the complications of segregated or semi-segregated lanes.

[codyg1985]

It's not at all obvious to me why they wouldn't just eight or ten lane it and walk away instead of dealing with the complications of segregated or semi-segregated lanes.

Maybe they want to have the option of tolling it in the future? Or maybe they want to toll it from the get-go?

[ARMOURERERIC]

I highly doubt that the truck lanes will have anywhere near the access points the GP lanes will.

[D-Dey65]

I have a feeling they won't go full on NJTP style on it. I imagine it will involve some slip ramps between the truck lanes and the general purpose lanes.

I still keep thinking of the New Jersey Turnpike when I read about this, despite the fact that the turnpike has Cars Only lanes, and allows cars and buses in their truck lanes.

[codyg1985]

I have a feeling they won't go full on NJTP style on it. I imagine it will involve some slip ramps between the truck lanes and the general purpose lanes.

I still keep thinking of the New Jersey Turnpike when I read about this, despite the fact that the turnpike has Cars Only lanes, and allows cars and buses in their truck lanes.

It would be nice for this corridor, wouldn't it? 

If that happened, then I imagine there would be no possible way GDOT could afford it unless a toll was levied on the entire route.

[cl94]

I picture them becoming HOT lanes at some point. Why else would they do such a thing for more than a short distance?

[1995hoo]

I believe this project will certainly be one of the first, if not the first truck only lane project in the U.S.

Not the first.  There's a roughly 2-mile-long set of truck-only lanes on I-5 at the I-210/CA 14 megajunction north of Los Angeles that have existed for 30 years.  According to CalTrans, there is another set of truck-only lanes on southbound I-5 and southbound CA 99 at their merge south of Bakersfield...the goal being to keep the truck merge separate from the car merge.

There was also the effort by Virginia to force trucks to use a (tolled) trucks-only set of lanes along the I-81 under the Commonwealth's Public-Private Partnership Act.  I think the consortium that was to build them was called Star Solutions, but the project died - if memory serves, there were legitimate concerns about forcing the trucks to pay tolls but allowing cars to continue to use the 320+ miles of I-81 in Virginia for "free."

There is still a page on the VDOT Web site about the project here.

The other big concern was that Star Solutions wanted a very strict noncompete clause that could have been read as prohibiting improvements to roads such as US-29, US-220, and conceivably I-85, as well as any improvements to freight rail service. The Commonwealth understandably got cold feet.

Regarding places with an exclusive truck lane that prohibits cars, US-219 TRUCK outside Ridgway, PA, probably doesn't really count because it's a separate truck-only single-lane northbound-only road bypassing a steep downhill grade, though it's worthy of mention simply for the sake of completeness.

[cl94]

I believe this project will certainly be one of the first, if not the first truck only lane project in the U.S.

Not the first.  There's a roughly 2-mile-long set of truck-only lanes on I-5 at the I-210/CA 14 megajunction north of Los Angeles that have existed for 30 years.  According to CalTrans, there is another set of truck-only lanes on southbound I-5 and southbound CA 99 at their merge south of Bakersfield...the goal being to keep the truck merge separate from the car merge.

There was also the effort by Virginia to force trucks to use a (tolled) trucks-only set of lanes along the I-81 under the Commonwealth's Public-Private Partnership Act.  I think the consortium that was to build them was called Star Solutions, but the project died - if memory serves, there were legitimate concerns about forcing the trucks to pay tolls but allowing cars to continue to use the 320+ miles of I-81 in Virginia for "free."

There is still a page on the VDOT Web site about the project here.

The other big concern was that Star Solutions wanted a very strict noncompete clause that could have been read as prohibiting improvements to roads such as US-29, US-220, and conceivably I-85, as well as any improvements to freight rail service. The Commonwealth understandably got cold feet.

Regarding places with an exclusive truck lane that prohibits cars, US-219 TRUCK outside Ridgway, PA, probably doesn't really count because it's a separate truck-only single-lane northbound-only road bypassing a steep downhill grade, though it's worthy of mention simply for the sake of completeness.

While it theoretically bans trucks, GSV somehow got a car on there.