Dunwoody Traffic Growth

I-285 was completed in 1969, with Dunwoody sitting on top of this hybrid local and interstate highway.   Dunwoody offered two-way access to the rest of Atlanta Metro making it a highly desired location.  Dunwoody filled up rapidly in the 1970s with homeowners willing to pay a premium for convenience.  MARTA public train and bus service was established in 1971, but costs were double revenue and expansion costs were prohibitive. At the time, the Metro Atlanta area held about 2 million people, so I-285 was “adequate’.

In the 1980s, Atlanta Metro became a favorite spot for commercial and defense electronics, telecom companies and other durable goods for engineering design and manufacturing.  The PC revolution roared through the 1980s and the population grew to 3 million, but traffic wasn’t bad.

In the 1990s, the telecom design cycle replaced the PC cycle. Telecom opened up to multiple companies and hardware was redesigned.  Cell phones were being developed and the population grew 4 million and traffic got worse.

After 1993, companies began to determine what operations they would move overseas to take advantage of lower labor costs and regulatory compliance.

In 2000, we began to see Atlanta Metro manufacturing companies close and move overseas to lower costs. Most electronics manufacturing moved to Texas and China. The population grew to over 5 million and traffic was a real problem.

The 2008 Meltdown caused most hiring to cease.  Atlanta

Metro population peaked in 2009 at 5.5 million.  The Georgia DOT had failed to keep up with the growth and traffic became a unbearable. 

Atlanta MSA: Population
1970: 1,840,280
1975: 2,116,700
1980: 2,326,551
1985: 2,677,192
1990: 3,068,975
1995: 3,630,747
2000: 4,247,981
2005: 4,247,981
2009: 5,475,213
 

http://www.city-data.com/forum/city-vs-city/1197522-population-metropolitan-area-msa-populations-1970-a.html

The 2008 Meltdown was caused by the passage of the Community Reinvestment Act of 1993 and HUD anti-discrimination rules that required lenders to give mortgages to unqualified buyers.  NAFTA was passed in 1993 to allow US companies to move overseas.  Immigration doubled in 1989 to allow 61 million additional immigrants and refugees to enter the US.  We now have 100 million working-age US citizens without jobs.

Atlanta Metro MSA population is quoted to be 5.7 million.

We have been in the process of replacing these lost high earning engineering and manufacturing jobs with immigrants and refugees on welfare and minimum wage jobs. Our illegal population ebbs and flows with job availability.

The Georgia legislature began to address the gridlock on Atlanta Metro highways with expansions of lanes on I-75 and the I-285 / GA 400 access ramps.  We still don’t have a grid system connecting I-285 from Smyrna to Tucker or a viable outer belt to off-load interstate traffic.  GA-400 was added in the 1980s to accommodate growth in North Fulton, but is still a few lanes short of a picnic.

Most development in Atlanta Metro is still what the global warming believers call urban sprawl.  The exurbs in Cherokee and Forsyth Counties continue to add subdivisions for some commuters.  The high density in-fill development is too expensive to be economically viable and will cause more gridlock in Dunwoody and wherever it lands.  MARTA expansion is unsustainable because of cost.  It’s still cheaper to expand the roads and highway lanes.

Our economy is stagnant with no end in sight for a while. Government spending will need to be reduced to avoid sovereign bankruptcy and enable us to restart the private economy.  This will hit Atlanta Metro, because we have lots of government jobs.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader