Georgia

[Georgia]

Drove up to Helen, GA this weekend, which is a really cool German themed town in Northern GA. A few observations on the roadways:

• Interstate 985 desperately needs some more capacity up to Gainsville. Any plans for expansion or even at least Peachpass lanes?
• Piggybacking off the roundabout conversation, I wonder if they might be helpful on some of the two lane GA 384 roadway between US 23 and GA 75.
• Any plans in the longer term future to extend the Interstate 985 designation or at least gradually work on removing the stoplights from US 23 up to Cornelia?
• I really hope that lane expansion at the Buford Drive SB offramp helps. That line of traffic was backing up onto the Interstate and causing traffic to completely back up!
• I know I've said it before, but in general I think a real shortcoming with GA highways is the lack of lighting in a lot of places where it seems they should have it installed.

With the next 20 years of rebuilding and adding express lanes to GA400, and over half of the I-285 loop getting 4 additional elevated Express lanes, I doubt I-985 will be a focus for a while.

they need to 3 lane 85 the rest of the way to SC first before thinking of 985, the Atlanta-Greenville-Charlotte corridor isnt going to get any slower

[Tom958]

Last Friday, I visited this roundabout at 5pm. Conditions there weren't nearly as bad as Google Maps' traffic view made it appear. In particular, there was no slow traffic within the roundabout itself. At one point, I did observe a lengthy queue on the Broadway entrance-- as I'd predicted-- but it dispersed reasonably quickly.

I suspect that traffic gets quite bad there at times and that a signalized intersection would've been a better solution, but I doubt they'll do remedial work here unless traffic volumes grow significantly, which I don't expect.

There's a roundabout at US 41-GA 247 and Broadway on the south side of Macon. I explained to an activist friend in Macon that it wouldn't work properly because (a) the traffic volumes from southbound 247 to northbound Broadway would be insufficient to moderate the heavy volumes entering from the south, causing heavy backup on the Broadway entrance, and (b) the few drivers trying to go from southbound  247 to northbound Broadway would be afraid to pull in front of traffic coming in from the south, exacerbating the backup on Broadway. I made a Facebook post explaining this at the request of a friend in Macon so he could present the case at the public meeting.

The roundabout is open now, and per Google Maps, it seems to be operating pretty much as I predicted, even as I post this on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Of course, it's worse during weekday rush hours. It hasn't ended up with traffic lights as I predicted, but we'll see how it goes.

https://www.google.com/maps/@32.7727,-83.6582723,17.75z/data!5m1!1e1

[ChiMilNet]

Drove up to Helen, GA this weekend, which is a really cool German themed town in Northern GA. A few observations on the roadways:

• Interstate 985 desperately needs some more capacity up to Gainsville. Any plans for expansion or even at least Peachpass lanes?
• Piggybacking off the roundabout conversation, I wonder if they might be helpful on some of the two lane GA 384 roadway between US 23 and GA 75.
• Any plans in the longer term future to extend the Interstate 985 designation or at least gradually work on removing the stoplights from US 23 up to Cornelia?
• I really hope that lane expansion at the Buford Drive SB offramp helps. That line of traffic was backing up onto the Interstate and causing traffic to completely back up!
• I know I've said it before, but in general I think a real shortcoming with GA highways is the lack of lighting in a lot of places where it seems they should have it installed.

With the next 20 years of rebuilding and adding express lanes to GA400, and over half of the I-285 loop getting 4 additional elevated Express lanes, I doubt I-985 will be a focus for a while.

they need to 3 lane 85 the rest of the way to SC first before thinking of 985, the Atlanta-Greenville-Charlotte corridor isnt going to get any slower

Good point with that. I'll also add that they really need to upgrade GA 400 through Forsyth County up to Dahlonega to full freeway (maybe once they are done with the major express lanes project starting shortly). I discovered just this weekend the traffic situation on that once it downgrades to expressway north of Cumming, complete with some very poorly timed stoplights.

[Georgia Guardrail]

Has anybody been up SR 400 recently and seen any work being done so far on building the toll lanes?  It was my understanding they were supposed to begin construction this month.

[Tomahawkin]

I Take 400 every Friday to Johns Creek for work. I haven't seen #### as far as of tree clearing or staging construction equipment. Hell the McGinnis Ferry interchange has gone on for almost 3 years. I have seen pro stadiums completed in less time. The contractor on that McGinnis Ferry interchange project Sucks Ass!

[hotdogPi]

"A.ss"

By attempting to self-censor, my browser sees this as a URL (that leads to a nonexistent website).

[74/171FAN]

I fixed the above posts to remove the "Ass" link.  -Mark