Atlanta

[Tomahawkin]

I wish they would use those 4 foot  hard rubber vertical sticks 3 miles before that interchange to prevent last minute people from getting over especially over the gore! That is a serious problem at all big Atlanta interchanges

[Tom958]

I agree that Midtown needs an HOV access ramp to/from the north, although it seems that it would be hard to fit one there that would have access to and from both I-75 and I-85 to the north.

I still think that a ramp with access to/from I-75 alone would be well worth having. It could be a real boon to express bus service to Cobb County and beyond.

[Tomahawkin]

Does anyone think that the new infrastructure bill will accelerate the toll lane projects on both 400 and 285? IMO a truck bypass from Tennessee to Florida would be just as beneficial. Other than the top end express lanes, the 1 extra express lanes on 285 in Dekalb county does little

[Tom958]

I took this on southbound I-85 at about 6:25 last Friday morning. Never mind the ALL LANES BLOCKED-- the green is a dick and balls logo, like you'd find at https://www.google.com/search?q=pilot+tracing+penis+in+the+sky. I first saw it about three years ago during the wee hours of the morning, then again about a month ago at about 3am. On last Wednesday morning it was up at rush hour, and the same the next Friday. Hopefully it'll return and I can get a clearer shot.

[Avalanchez71]

Does anyone think that the new infrastructure bill will accelerate the toll lane projects on both 400 and 285? IMO a truck bypass from Tennessee to Florida would be just as beneficial. Other than the top end express lanes, the 1 extra express lanes on 285 in Dekalb county does little

Is this a truck by-pass to bypass trucks or for trucks to use the bypass?

[Tomahawkin]

Trucks to use, to bypass Atlanta en route to the Port of Savannah and Florida...

[Tom958]

Does anyone think that the new infrastructure bill will accelerate the toll lane projects on both 400 and 285?

I don't know, because I don't know how they're funded.

[Tomahawkin]

From what I'm hearing, the state will have to contribute funding to those projects? With 15+ dollar tolls 1 way on IH 85 during rush hour for the last year and in 2019, SRTA should be able to contribute with no problem! Unless someone is stealing those funds...

[architect77]

Does anyone think that the new infrastructure bill will accelerate the toll lane projects on both 400 and 285? IMO a truck bypass from Tennessee to Florida would be just as beneficial. Other than the top end express lanes, the 1 extra express lanes on 285 in Dekalb county does little

Is this a truck by-pass to bypass trucks or for trucks to use the bypass?

it is welcomed, but it's only for one direction.

[Tomahawkin]

Does anyone think the 285/400 interchange will be completed before next winter? This project has almost taken 8 years. I'm willing to guess that Spaghetti Junction was completed in half of the amount of time?

[architect77]

From what I'm hearing, the state will have to contribute funding to those projects? With 15+ dollar tolls 1 way on IH 85 during rush hour for the last year and in 2019, SRTA should be able to contribute with no problem! Unless someone is stealing those funds...

GDOT literature states that revenue collected well into the future has already been spent for stuff being built today.

The express lanes will help with that and also help fund projects in the future when gas tax revenue is going towards paying off bonds from the past i.e. now.

Those $15 tolls usually only apply to peak times and probably the total is less than you think Still plenty of money though.

[architect77]

Trucks to use, to bypass Atlanta en route to the Port of Savannah and Florida...

I thought the truck lane was between Atlanta and Macon and was just to relieve the general purpose lanes by removing truck traffic.

it's not bypassing anything and certainly not Atlanta.

[Tom958]

Trucks to use, to bypass Atlanta en route to the Port of Savannah and Florida...

I thought the truck lane was between Atlanta and Macon and was just to relieve the general purpose lanes by removing truck traffic.

it's not bypassing anything and certainly not Atlanta.

I think Tomahawkin is talking about a fantasy project that exists only in his mind.

[Tomahawkin]

The Truck lanes that are going to be built between Atlanta and Macon, are a band aid on a bullet wound. Suburban Atlanta Sprawl has peeped into areas like Griffen and Forsyth. There needs to be additional truck bypasses of the Atlanta area, IMO, US 27 from Tennessee to Florida would be a decent option, but then again I'm in quote "Fantasy-land"...

[Tom958]

There needs to be additional truck bypasses of the Atlanta area, IMO, US 27 from Tennessee to Florida would be a decent option, but then again I'm in quote "Fantasy-land"...

I've posted about it here and elsewhere before to little or no reaction, but I'll set myself up for disappointment by bringing it up again:

Georgia DOT's 2010 Freight Mobility Plan, which I can't find online now because it's been updated, found that a four-lane corridor between LaGrange and Macon coupled with a connection between US 27 and the northern end of I-185 would have a ludicrously high benefit-cost ratio, largely because it'd provide a route for truck traffic to bypass Atlanta to I-20 and, to a lesser extent, to I-75. GDOT's scheme for doing this was simply four-laning the existing state highways and tying into the Interstates in Macon via GA 74. It occurred to me that a new terrain corridor from LaGrange to I-75 just north of the north end of I-475 would be much shorter and much more efficient, though admittedly more expensive. Then people started talking about I-14, which... building a full-blown Interstate in the LaGrange-Macon corridor would be a far better idea than upgrading or replacing recently-four-laned GA 540.

Per the 2018 update, the project has a benefit/cost ratio of 8.48 for the medium growth scenario (p. 3.21) and 25.92 (yes, twenty five point ninety two!) for high growth (p. 3.22). For high growth, no other project comes anywhere close to that, and only one other for medium growth. Of course, building the project as the freeway I envision would be more expensive and deliver a different set of benefits, but the difference would surely be amount to a rounding error.

Despite all this, I've never heard anyone other than me speak up for the concept, and I don't understand why.

[Tomahawkin]

You posted GDOT's mobility plan on here in 2010? Cheesewhiz, I don't think I joined the forum until late 2011

[Tomahawkin]

Utilizing SR 74 from IH 85 to Macon is a Damn good idea. Other than Peachtree City, SR 74 can be widened in many areas. SR 74 would need to be Widened to connect with IH 20 and man that interchange with SR 74 and 85 needs a total rebuild and has needed a rebuild for 30 years. A lot of warehouses and truck terminals have relocated to that area in the last 20 years...

[Tom958]

You posted GDOT's mobility plan on here in 2010? Cheesewhiz, I don't think I joined the forum until late 2011

No, I didn't say that. The plan dates from 2010 and was updated in 2018. I don't know when I first posted it.


Here's the link to the project recommendations section, which includes the evaluations.

[Tom958]

Utilizing SR 74 from IH 85 to Macon is a Damn good idea.

No, it's a terrible idea. If you ask Google Maps for a route between LaGrange and Macon, it'll recommend one through Forsyth, then into Macon via I-75. Honestly, the route via GA 74 isn't that inferior in time or overall distance, but if you're looking to four-lane a corridor by widening existing highways and building a minimal amount of new terrain highway, it's probably better to choose something like the Forsyth route because the part that isn't existing I-75 is over fifteen miles shorter and doesn't require the trucks it's meant to serve to slog down five or six miles of Mercer University Drive in Macon.

[architect77]

Utilizing SR 74 from IH 85 to Macon is a Damn good idea.

No, it's a terrible idea. If you ask Google Maps for a route between LaGrange and Macon, it'll recommend one through Forsyth, then into Macon via I-75. Honestly, the route via GA 74 isn't that inferior in time or overall distance, but if you're looking to four-lane a corridor by widening existing highways and building a minimal amount of new terrain highway, it's probably better to choose something like the Forsyth route because the part that isn't existing I-75 is over fifteen miles shorter and doesn't require the trucks it's meant to serve to slog down five or six miles of Mercer University Drive in Macon.

Utilizing SR 74 from IH 85 to Macon is a Damn good idea.

No, it's a terrible idea. If you ask Google Maps for a route between LaGrange and Macon, it'll recommend one through Forsyth, then into Macon via I-75. Honestly, the route via GA 74 isn't that inferior in time or overall distance, but if you're looking to four-lane a corridor by widening existing highways and building a minimal amount of new terrain highway, it's probably better to choose something like the Forsyth route because the part that isn't existing I-75 is over fifteen miles shorter and doesn't require the trucks it's meant to serve to slog down five or six miles of Mercer University Drive in Macon.

Utilizing SR 74 from IH 85 to Macon is a Damn good idea.

No, it's a terrible idea. If you ask Google Maps for a route between LaGrange and Macon, it'll recommend one through Forsyth, then into Macon via I-75. Honestly, the route via GA 74 isn't that inferior in time or overall distance, but if you're looking to four-lane a corridor by widening existing highways and building a minimal amount of new terrain highway, it's probably better to choose something like the Forsyth route because the part that isn't existing I-75 is over fifteen miles shorter and doesn't require the trucks it's meant to serve to slog down five or six miles of Mercer University Drive in Macon.

In the biggest state East of the Mississippi, why be so reluctant to acquire new land to expand the highway system? Land is cheap, building highways that aren't currently active or aren't super busy is cheap, and other states are always building them.

Georgia will eventually have to contend with freight movement through the Southeast that doesn't piggy-back on Atlanta's one loop and 3 spoke interstate system. The nexus of the Southeast is its worst chokepoint with 285 Top end causing a queue of trucks through Gwinnett up to 10 miles long. I have video of it at 1pm on a weekday.

I know everyone says the mountains are too environmentally sensitive but some of those 2 lane roads near Big Canoe are frightening with all the trucks already trying to avoid Atlanta. Perhaps something  from 85 spurring near Athens down to a Southside bypass then to Alabama is possible.

We are the most popular post COVID city soon to have 8 million people, we're number one in inflation, and our building booms continues unfazed. We need to start planning, building now.

[architect77]

This is my comment to one of the many anti-roads stories on the website Planetizen:

I just spent the day loading a moving van along I-20 on Atlanta's West side.I have never seen so many tractor trailers moving freight ever in my life. they comprised 80% of the traffic all day at the Fulton Industrial Blvd interchange and were backed up crawling Eastward at 11am this Wednesday morning. On Atlanta's Northside on I-85 queues up to 10 miles long of tractor trailers form everyday. Atlanta has always been a big logistical distribution hub and brings billions of dollars into Georgia every year. But the state hasn't ever accommodated the valuable logistics industry with better connections, additional roads or anything.They must use the 1960s built 3 interstates and one loop around Atlanta. Everyday just tracelling 1 quarter of the 63 mile loop rises to 50-70 minutes to travel 10-15 miles. in cities that aren't growing like Chicago in the story photo, of course there shouldn't be spending on additional lane miles, just maintain what's there. But in Atlanta growing rapidly yp an expected 8 million people in 8 years, the mantra of no more highway building is absurd, degrading everyone's quality of life by unecessary hours spent trying to go places. It's bad for air quality and lost productivity. Our federal taxes and state gas taxes being used to fund our country's mobility network that indirectly brings food and clothing to everyone whether they drive or not, is pretty fair. Dynamic tolling for the privilege of using lanes guaranteed to flow at a minimum of 45 mph for predictiable travel times is also fair. Everyone relies on roads for things they use and depend on. People's perception that tolls coming from their wallet are worse than the taxes everyone pays are just that, their subjective perception. There is no someone else paying for roads. Everyone chips in a little for all roads, and growth must be accomodated with adequate capacity to match.---it should be easy for someone to calculate the necessary lane miles for a given population with regional differences accounted fot. Then every project can be judged against what is considered minimally adequate road infrastrcture per capita.

[architect77]

Spaghetti Junction is not lit up at night. It's very dark.

If we can spend millions decorating overpasses mostly in a tacky fashion...

Then I think that spaghetti Junction should get a white or light gray paint job and either get some uplighting from the ground or maybe a thin strip of white LED line lights on the sides of the flyovers.

I'm not sure multi-colored lights would look good but it is a work of art that right now looks stained in the daytime and is virtually unseen at night.

Any one else has thoughts about this?

[ran4sh]

Spaghetti Junction is not lit up at night. It's very dark.

If we can spend millions decorating overpasses mostly in a tacky fashion...

Then I think that spaghetti Junction should get a white or light gray paint job and either get some uplighting from the ground or maybe a thin strip of white LED line lights on the sides of the flyovers.

I'm not sure multi-colored lights would look good but it is a work of art that right now looks stained in the daytime and is virtually unseen at night.

Any one else has thoughts about this?

Roadway lighting in Georgia is funded by local government (county, city, CID, etc) and for Spaghetti Junction that would be DeKalb County. For various reasons, some places fund lighting (e.g. Marietta for I-75, Gwinnett County for part of I-85, and one of the local governments for I-75/85) while others don't.

[architect77]

Spaghetti Junction is not lit up at night. It's very dark.

If we can spend millions decorating overpasses mostly in a tacky fashion...

Then I think that spaghetti Junction should get a white or light gray paint job and either get some uplighting from the ground or maybe a thin strip of white LED line lights on the sides of the flyovers.

I'm not sure multi-colored lights would look good but it is a work of art that right now looks stained in the daytime and is virtually unseen at night.

Any one else has thoughts about this?

Roadway lighting in Georgia is funded by local government (county, city, CID, etc) and for Spaghetti Junction that would be DeKalb County. For various reasons, some places fund lighting (e.g. Marietta for I-75, Gwinnett County for part of I-85, and one of the local governments for I-75/85) while others don't.

Yeah, now the big question is when we'll get LEDs on Atlanta's interstates?

Dekalb has many aspects missing on their roads. The I-85/ N. Druid Hills interchange doesn't have any lighting  for practically 1/4 mile on the overpass. It is very dark.

[Tomahawkin]

The IH 85 Druid hillis interchange is a Cluster#### at all times of the day. It will get worse with the new added hospital development in that Area!

@Architect77 your post is on point! Express lanes on 285 and 400 will NOT Solve the traffic issues here, especially with Freight Trucks. Yet My Truck proposals to make bypasses of Atlanta get POO-POOED by others on here, lol