GA 400 shoulder lane (Atlanta, Dallas, Boston: power lines, how much, house)

[HeyEng]

Originally Posted by gagirlatl

IMO, the gas tax is not the issue. Instead, there are a bunch of bozos in the GA DOT who are wasting money and sitting around with their thumbs up their butts.

If the gas tax is such a vital piece of the puzzle, then please tell me how the state of Texas is building highways and massive interchanges with a much lower gas tax? My guess would be the state has a more competent DOT and they are relying on a lot of tolls for the major roads.

Here's a map that highlights the current gas tax for each state.

USA Gasoline Tax Map - Texas Gas Prices

Not sure where in Texas you are driving, but it's just as bad in San Antonio, Austin, and Dallas as it is in Atlanta. Sure...they make lots of money of gas taxes, but it goes to other causes and NOT transportation. Most of the DOT folks here got their credentials from a Cracker Jack box.

[kira kira]

Originally Posted by HeyEng

Not sure where in Texas you are driving, but it's just as bad in San Antonio, Austin, and Dallas as it is in Atlanta. Sure...they make lots of money of gas taxes, but it goes to other causes and NOT transportation. Most of the DOT folks here got their credentials from a Cracker Jack box.

I didn't say more roads make the traffic disappear, but at least other regions of the country are addressing the issue and creating real solutions.

Here are just a few of the current/recent projects in the Dallas area:
- 635/LBJ - LBJ Express Project
- 121/Dallas North Tollway interchange
- 121/Central Expressway interchange
- 114/121 - North entrance/exit of DFW airport

I spent several years in Dallas, and I was always amazed at the road work taking place. Ever since the mid-90s when Dallas completely reconstructed Central Expressway (complete nightmare, BTW) they have continued to focus on roads (including building the Dallas North Tollway, George Bush Turnpike, 121, etc.)

I was born and raised in Georgia, and I would love to see the commitment to roads/infrastructure that I have seen elsewhere. IMO, we don't need more taxes, just better leadership!

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by architect77

Exactly. Georgia should already have $billions for NEW roads. What the heck is this excise tax and where is it being funneled off to?

Well, GDOT serves the entire state. They can't dump everything into Atlanta.

[mike7586]

Originally Posted by gagirlatl

I didn't say more roads make the traffic disappear, but at least other regions of the country are addressing the issue and creating real solutions.

Here are just a few of the current/recent projects in the Dallas area:
- 635/LBJ - LBJ Express Project
- 121/Dallas North Tollway interchange
- 121/Central Expressway interchange
- 114/121 - North entrance/exit of DFW airport

I spent several years in Dallas, and I was always amazed at the road work taking place. Ever since the mid-90s when Dallas completely reconstructed Central Expressway (complete nightmare, BTW) they have continued to focus on roads (including building the Dallas North Tollway, George Bush Turnpike, 121, etc.)

I was born and raised in Georgia, and I would love to see the commitment to roads/infrastructure that I have seen elsewhere. IMO, we don't need more taxes, just better leadership!

They aren't just building roads, but also a pretty extensive light rail system. We can't seem to build roads or transit, just cheap solutions like turning a shoulder into a temporary lane... and people here really wonder why Dallas is doing better than we are...

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by mike7586

They aren't just building roads, but also a pretty extensive light rail system. We can't seem to build roads or transit, just cheap solutions like turning a shoulder into a temporary lane... and people here really wonder why Dallas is doing better than we are...

You know, it pains me to say it, but I wonder if our days of competing with cities like Dallas haven't come and gone. People here seem to be in a sort of ornery, hunkered down mode. The sense of thinking big and planning for the long term just isn't there anymore.

It's hardly as if Dallas is a liberal playground. If anything I'd guess they are more politically conservative than Atlanta. The difference is they don't mind investing in the future, not because they have some uber-progressive mindset, but simply because it's good business. And one thing Dallas knows is how to do bidness.

As a native Atlantan I really hate to see our star fade. However, as Don Schlitz said, if you want to play the game, you got to learn to play it right. I'm getting the feeling we're dealing ourselves out.

[chalvey]

Originally Posted by arjay57

You know, it pains me to say it, but I wonder if our days of competing with cities like Dallas haven't come and gone. People here seem to be in a sort of ornery, hunkered down mode. The sense of thinking big and planning for the long term just isn't there anymore.

It's hardly as if Dallas is a liberal playground. If anything I'd guess they are more politically conservative than Atlanta. The difference is they don't mind investing in the future, not because they have some uber-progressive mindset, but simply because it's good business. And one thing Dallas knows is how to do bidness.

As a native Atlantan I really hate to see our star fade. However, as Don Schlitz said, if you want to play the game, you got to learn to play it right. I'm getting the feeling we're dealing ourselves out.

Agree. Been here 15 years and hardly seen anything new being built. Major things i can list: 1. MARTA extended 2 stops (over a decade ago), 2. 5th runway/new terminal, 3. Redoing the 316/85 intersection. Besides that it is just repaving and a couple of new exits and overpasses. Nothing substantial unless I am missing something. I fear we are seriously lagging.

[neil0311]

Originally Posted by arjay57

What do you think happens to people when they move here, Neil? It sounds like something is sucking their prior experience and knowledge right out of them, or maybe they just don't care anymore.

I can only use myself and my wife for my opinion, and we haven't changed our driving habits. I just know that I don't see the same kind of bad driving being so pervasive in other parts of the country. There is bad driving and reckless or agressive drivers everywhere, but they seem to be more the rule than the exception here in Atlanta. I can tell you if people drove the same in states like MA, CT, NY, or NJ, they would be getting tickets and losing their licenses.

The opinion of some is that "it's all the transplants" but then that would imply that they substantially change their driving habits when they move here. Maybe. Of course that doesn't explain why I see the same bad habits in Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, and other parts of the south as well. Driving through South Carolina on I-85 or I-20 is a nightmare of tailgating, speeding, cutting people off, etc.

The other factor that I think works against Atlanta has been mentioned by me and others before. The law requiring 10 mph over to give a ticket, combined with no unmarked vehicles, and no insurance reporting below 15mph over the limit seems to give people a perceived pass to speed at 10 to 15mph over.

In other states, they will pull you over for 5 mph over. I'm in NC today and in Raleigh right now, and I can tell you I saw more cops in the Raleigh area today than I saw the entire ride through GA. The cops are just non-existant on the Interstates in GA, and when they do make an appearance, they are on the side of the road where you can see them for miles before you get to them.

I think when people move to Atlanta, they see the differences in the law and the enforcement, and some people become more reckless because they can. Others are just home grown drivers who grew up with that as the norm. They just don't know any better.

[billl]

Originally Posted by mike7586

They aren't just building roads, but also a pretty extensive light rail system. We can't seem to build roads or transit, just cheap solutions like turning a shoulder into a temporary lane...

Or an HOV lane in to a TOLL lane.

[toll_booth]

Originally Posted by neil0311

I can only use myself and my wife for my opinion, and we haven't changed our driving habits. I just know that I don't see the same kind of bad driving being so pervasive in other parts of the country. There is bad driving and reckless or agressive drivers everywhere, but they seem to be more the rule than the exception here in Atlanta. I can tell you if people drove the same in states like MA, CT, NY, or NJ, they would be getting tickets and losing their licenses.

The opinion of some is that "it's all the transplants" but then that would imply that they substantially change their driving habits when they move here. Maybe. Of course that doesn't explain why I see the same bad habits in Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, and other parts of the south as well. Driving through South Carolina on I-85 or I-20 is a nightmare of tailgating, speeding, cutting people off, etc.

The other factor that I think works against Atlanta has been mentioned by me and others before. The law requiring 10 mph over to give a ticket, combined with no unmarked vehicles, and no insurance reporting below 15mph over the limit seems to give people a perceived pass to speed at 10 to 15mph over.

In other states, they will pull you over for 5 mph over. I'm in NC today and in Raleigh right now, and I can tell you I saw more cops in the Raleigh area today than I saw the entire ride through GA. The cops are just non-existant on the Interstates in GA, and when they do make an appearance, they are on the side of the road where you can see them for miles before you get to them.

I think when people move to Atlanta, they see the differences in the law and the enforcement, and some people become more reckless because they can. Others are just home grown drivers who grew up with that as the norm. They just don't know any better.

Problem is, it will take our do-nothing legislature until the year 2135 to fix this.

[ATLTJL]

Agree. Been here 15 years and hardly seen anything new being built.

Right on!

Contrast that with Florida, which has a very progressive dept. of transportation.

Every time I visit my family down there, some kind of massive roadwork is going on. It's easy to look at it and say, "Ummm, why are they building a major 4 lane road that seems to go nowhere?" But 10 to 15 years later, the road is in heavy use. It's because Florida actually builds roads BEFORE it needs them instead of waiting for the roads to become miserable and so far beyond capacity before they kick around the idea of expanding them or building new roads.

I just went to Google maps and looked at Dallas and Houston. Both put Atlanta to shame.

Dallas has tons of highways weaving all over the city. Houston has 2 perimeters. In Atlanta, we rely so heavily on 75, 85, 20, and 285.....but aside from that, we have very few limited access highways. We put so much pressure on our surface streets with their red lights every 100 feet, it's no wonder our traffic is a disaster.

I say if the DOT can't handle it, just bring in private companies and let them construct toll roads.