Revive 285 top end (Atlanta, GA)

[Buummu]

I just came to this website and looked at it..

Now I know that I-285 (called the Top End) between I-75 (Northwest Cobb interchange) and I-85 (Northeast Spaghetti interchange) is one of the worst bottlenecks in Georgia. And based on looking at their alternatives of rebuild that section, one of the alternatives are to widen the ramp from I-285 East to I-85 North (the famous flyover) from 2 lanes to 3 lanes.. wow. Other alternatives are really good, but will it help the traffic?

Looks like they are seriously considering rebuild that section. If you want the link, go to http://www.revive285.com/index.html

Any comments, ideas?

[golden eagle]

To tell you the truth, no matter what they do with 285, it's gonna get crowded as long as the Atlanta area continues to grow. If people used public transportation more, maybe you'll see an improvement. I hate to seem cynical, but that's just the nature of the best in an American urban area.

[mightyace]

If people used public transportation more, maybe you'll see an improvement.

Yeah, right!

Seriously, will near gridlock slow Atlanta's growth?

[RoadWarrior56]

Growth has already slowed in the Atlanta area.  This recession has hit this area hard.

[Daniel Fiddler]

Growth has already slowed in the Atlanta area.  This recession has hit this area hard.

Same with Orlando, Las Vegas, and Phoenix.  Five years ago, they were four of the five fastest growing large metropolitan areas by percentage, exploding over the past 30 years or so.  The developers, expecting the growth to continue, overbuilt.  Now there is a surplus of houses and a foreclosure crisis.  I expect within 10 years though the surplus will end, and the real estate market to recover.  But if those four cities had continued to grow from 2006 - 2011 like they did from 1975 - 2006, Atlanta would EASILY pass 6 (if not 7) million, Phoenix 5 million, Orlando would come damn near 4 million (if not surpass it), and Las Vegas would be well over 2 million, probably close to 3 million.  As it stands, I think Atlanta's at 5.7, Phoenix 4.3, Orlando 3.1, and Vegas 1.9 million.

[golden eagle]

If people used public transportation more, maybe you'll see an improvement.

Yeah, right!

Seriously, will near gridlock slow Atlanta's growth?

I think so. I mean, if you can't get anywhere because of traffic, then how do you expect people to want to go there? Atlanta grew too quickly in relation to its infrastructure.

[ShawnP]

The only true fix is to build a far outer loop but that's not happening.

[brownpelican]

To tell you the truth, no matter what they do with 285, it's gonna get crowded as long as the Atlanta area continues to grow. If people used public transportation more, maybe you'll see an improvement. I hate to seem cynical, but that's just the nature of the best in an American urban area.

Public transportation is nearly non-existent in Atlanta Metro. MARTA only exists in Fulton County and western DeKalb County (the Atlanta section).  I'm not even sure many bus lines exist outside of Fulton County. Now local leaders hope voters pass a referendum in 2012 that put an additional tax on metro residents that will go toward transportation projects that have yet to be narrowed down by metro leaders.

[SSF]

as only a road, there is nothing that can be done to "fix" 285.  a fix would require an integrated system of transportation beyond anything Atlanta seemingly can do.  The Metro area doesnt have the willpower to fix it's transportation problems so I do not expect it to ever go away.

[Mergingtraffic]

I would get rid of the option that reduces the general purpose lanes.  That is idiodic!

[RoadWarrior56]

I guess I am agreeing with SSF in the entry above this one.  I have lived in Atlanta metro for over 29 years.  IMHO, more transit around here will be like spitting in the wind, even though that is probably where much of the new transportation money will go if the TSPLOST is passed next year.  We have an overall housing density of greater Los Angeles which is not condusive to good transit.  We have a relatively few 1960's era freeways that have already been widened to their maximum practical extent, and a very spotty network of arterial streets and roads to supplement the freeways that we do have.  We have one true freeway loop that circles the entire metro area (as it existed in maybe 1957) that carries a dense mix of through traffic, heavy truck traffic, and suburb to suburb commuter traffic, all on one overcrowded facility.

To fix this mess for real would take money and political courage that don't exist.  You would have to build a couple more concentric "perimeters" outside I-285 and try to form a regional grid system of major arterials that would be bisecting more than a few neighborhoods with new connections.  The cost would be astronomical being that these neighborhoods are well established and the property expensive.  The well-organized NIMBY's around here would cripple any real effort to fix the transportation grid (especially in already developed areas) before any real effort ever got started anyway, even if the money were available.

We will nibble at the edges with toll lanes that will help some people at some times.  More transit will be provided that will provide a little better connectivity for the lucky people who actually would live or work near it, while saddling all of us with the operating costs in perpetuity.  Housing and jobs are too spread out to help for transit to help most of us.