Atlanta

[architect77]

Thank you for the report on Illinois doing a good job with keeping the lights working.

Y'all seem to care about the design of the light poles. Atlanta's 1980s "Freeing the Freeways" mega project installed the truss poles with cobra head bulbs on the major freeways. I-85 through Gwinnett used the have them also in the 1990s.

When I returned to Atlanta in 2010, none of the freeway lights were on as a cost-cutting measure from the Great Recession. I was miffed. Only Gwinnett's were working, and they had replaced the cobra heads with much shorter poles with bright lights in the center median. Apparently municipalities usually don't own trucks with cherry pickers that can reach the typical highway lights, and must hire Georgia Power to replace the bulbs.

Georgia Power converted street lights citywide to LEDs 10 years ago, yet our freeway lights have not been updated. I'm just happy they're mostly working so I'm not going to complain about that yet.

I don't particularly like the lighting pole style used on the Express Lane elevated lanes. It's a sorta S-curve which is too decorative for my personal tastes. I expect there to be thousands of them with so many elevated Express Lanes coming to I-285 over the next decade.

Please join me in emailing GDOT and Georgia Power about repairing the 200+ lights on I-75 in Marietta that haven't been fixed since 2018 from wire theft. The City of Marietta says they can't agree on who should pay for the repairs.

GDOT just completed a massive project on I-75 and having 200 or more lights not functioning for years is a shame.

I drove through the referenced stretch of I-75 today, and I agree the lighting there is in bad shape. To be honest, they need to entirely replace those poles. They all look rusted and and in disrepair. In my opinion, part of the issue of using steel poles (or at least that particular style, which I have never been a huge fan of).

I may follow you in petitioning GDOT to do something about that. It takes away from an otherwise well maintained highway.

Not only that, but the recent construction of the reversible Express Lanes along I-75 through Cobb was a total makeover for this entire corridor with new signage and repaving of the general purpose lanes. To have 200 lights not working after so much work went into this stretch of I-75 just isn't right. Atlanta is THE city right now and is the place to be among American cities. GDOT is doing the best work I've seen in decades and the money is there.

[Tom958]

The first flyover at I-20-285 east, carrying southbound 285 to eastbound 20 traffic, is now open.