New federal report on Augusta-Macon-Columbus interstate(I-14)

[tckr83]

Originally Posted by johnatl

I haven't heard of any such plan for the SRB at all. I've heard talk of a pipeline to the Tennessee River though.



And I simply don't buy all of this talk about North Carolina surpassing us. The lost Caterpiller to us.......they have nothing remotely similar to the Port of Savannah or Hartsfield-Jackson.

If you haven't heard about Atlanta potentially tapping into Lake Hartwell/Burton in the SRB... google it. Atlanta is trying to tap into basins all over the state, even in South Georgia. Do you know what kind of damage interbasin water transfers do to the environment and the ecosystem of the donor basin? Just interstates do that, right?


North Carolina and Georgia are neck and neck by all accounts... NC is set to surpass Georgia in population by 2020, GDP may have already passed Georgia... my opinion is that North Carolina is set up for better future success in terms of competition amongst its own cities unless Georgia does what it needs to in terms of competition within its own self.

[nortonguy]

Keep my name out of the discussion if I'm not involved..

[tckr83]

This is a first...

[Mutiny77]

Originally Posted by tckr83

North Carolina and Georgia are neck and neck by all accounts... NC is set to surpass Georgia in population by 2020, GDP may have already passed Georgia... my opinion is that North Carolina is set up for better future success in terms of competition amongst its own cities unless Georgia does what it needs to in terms of competition within its own self.

I tend to agree, and a big reason is because NC's larger cities don't have to fight tooth and nail with the state like Atlanta has to do with Georgia. It also speaks well to have resources more evenly spread throughout the state.

[bu2]

I-3 makes no sense. Have you driven through those mountains? Even on I-40? Its a challenge and would be very expensive as the report says. How many people go from Augusta to Knoxville? Augusta is served just fine by I-20 and I-77 and I-95 to the north east. Savannah connects to Knoxville just fine with I-16 and I-75.

There does need to be an outer by-pass of Atlanta, but it needs to serve the 50+% of the state population that is in the Atlanta metro area, not go 2 hours to the east or north.

I think an alternative E/W route between I-10 and I-20 makes sense. The problem is they are trying to run I-14 through the middle of nowhere (There's a Gulf Coast Strategic Highway group that is proposing a western end of the highway). It really needs to end in Austin instead of Temple or Junction Texas and run close to Houston along US 290 even if it turns north and goes near College Station and Huntsville (as per Gulf Coast Hwy group). There's no interstate between Austin and Houston. I-10 can be blocked from Texas to Florida during hurricanes. Traffic is frequently delayed in Louisiana, especially in Baton Rouge.

It ought to run from Austin to somewhere between Houston and Huntsville to Jasper, TX to Alexandria, LA to Natchez, MS to the route in the latest proposal I saw (Laurel, MS, up I-59 to Meridian area to I-85 proposed extension in AL to Montgomery, to around Tuskegee to Columbus to Macon).

Of course, given highway funding and priorities (TX I-69, LA I-49, GA-Atlanta metro problems), I-14 is a very long way off.

[nortonguy]

I-3 would have helped alleviate some of the traffic from I-75.. Then it connects Fort Gordon-Fort Stewart, and the second & third most important metros in the state... The port of Savannah connecting with Augusta's location(Columbia, Atlanta, Knoxville, Charlotte, Greenville) is a win for everybody..

The whole purpose of I-3 and I-14 was that they don't go anywhere near metro Atlanta.. Building more interstates through Atlanta won't help, but only increase traffic congestion.. Alot of interstate traffic is trucks bypassing through the metro Atlatna area.. I think Atlanta should be focusing on rail instead of additonal interstates anyway..

Neither I-95 or I-77 serve the city of Augusta at all.. Nobody uses I-95 to get to Savannah, but instead the Savannah River Pkwy..

I-3 would by far have the bigger impact on the state compared to I-14, or another metro Atlanta interstate... Whether it went through Knoxville, or somewhere in SC around Greenville/Clinton..

Georgia needs to start moving things away from Atlanta, and push growth towards other cities... I mean even with all the growth in metro Atlanta last decade.. The growth did absoutely nothing for Macon which is only 1 hour away..

[tckr83]

I-3 isn't about Augusta to Knoxville... it's about what's past Knoxville and the heavily populated areas north of Kentucky and the port of Savannah connecting to I-95.

Look at a map... anything coming up the East coast of Florida would take I-3 connecting to I-75 at Knoxville for Columbus/Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Lexington, Michigan, Louisville as opposed to taking I16 to I75 to I24 to I65, it's just more of a direct route. I-3 would receive a lot of traffic because of this...

Savannah is a huge port and only getting bigger, a ton of traffic would be deflected away from Atlanta/Columbia with a more efficient route North through Augusta/Knoxville and beyond. The sea port alone would seem to make I-3 more of a priority right now than I-14... at least there is the fall-line freeway in that regard for an East-West alternative, which is still by no means an interstate.

[Atlanta-Kid]

I would agree on the both of them, Both interstates will play a huge role in the southeast and north... THe connection with Augusta and Savannah would also save alot of time for travelers. I-14 is an automatic"YES" for the fact it passes far more cities that it can deeply inpact.

[bu2]

The whole purpose of I-3 and I-14 was that they don't go anywhere near metro Atlanta.. Building more interstates through Atlanta won't help, but only increase traffic congestion.. Alot of interstate traffic is trucks bypassing through the metro Atlatna area.. I think Atlanta should be focusing on rail instead of additonal interstates anyway..

Neither I-95 or I-77 serve the city of Augusta at all.. Nobody uses I-95 to get to Savannah, but instead the Savannah River Pkwy..

Building interstates only for trucks means you get pretty empty interstates. They need to be near major metro areas. Besides the cars, that's where many of the trucks are going to or from. Interstates don't have to go through the middle of those areas.

I-95 and I-77 are an easy connection to Augusta by I-20. I-77 goes to Cleveland. I-95 goes to DC and beyond. The proposed I-3 wouldn't save much time, especially going through the mountains, over I-16 and I-75 from Savannah. And I-16 is already a very underused road. I don't think I've been on such an empty interstate east of the Mississippi. So the benefit would be pretty limited for a huge cost.