Georgia Highway & Road Inadequacy

The population of Metro Atlanta including surrounding counties in 1983 was about 3 million.  The Interstate highway system was adequate for current residents and interstate traffic, but it was not adequate to absorb growth.  The State of Georgia spent 12% of its budget on transportation, but should have spent more to avoid the coming gridlock.  Atlanta Metro counties like Gwinnett were growing rapidly with electronics companies and jobs were plentiful.

The EPA put highway expansion on hold due to “air quality”, so Georgia didn’t get to build the roads it needed, but Metro Atlanta grew to 5 million and gridlock became a problem. GA-400 was started to allow growth in North Fulton, but is in need of expansion and density mitigation at I-285.

After 1993, jobs were off-shored and the working population was replaced by the immigrant population.  Businesses closed their Atlanta Metro facilities and moved back to their headquarters or overseas.

The 2008 Meltdown gave Metro Atlanta a lower population to 4 million, but now the population is back to 5 million with immigrants.

The problem with driving around Atlanta is that there are too few East West highways through the city.  I-285 is overcrowded and accidents create gridlock.  Lanes need to be added to I-285 and an East West highway should connect Smyrna with Tucker.  I-20 is the only East West highway in the grid.

The I-75 North commuter traffic has expanded due to expansion into Cherokee County and the Braves stadium at I-285 and GA 41 will make things worse on game nights.

Metro Atlanta roads expanded in the suburbs, but not closer in.  Roads in DeKalb and Fulton are not well maintained.

Agenda 21 implementation forced tax dollars into complete streets, on-street bike lanes, sidewalks we never planned for, greenways, designer intersection re-dos and tax dollars for economic development coming out of transportation revenue. High density developments create more gridlock and should be questioned where gridlock already exists. 

Atlanta Metro cities and counties and the state need to fix the highways and roads to allow any growth that may come.

Atlanta Metro residents require cars to keep up with our employment volatility and kid shuttling. Public transit isn’t the answer because it is horribly expensive and underutilized and only goes where it goes and most of us don’t work where it goes.

 

Norb Leahy Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader