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Ok it's the Memorial Day weekend and traffic has been bumber to bumber on I-75 for 2 days. Normally 15,000 vehicles per hour travel the northern part of Georgia's I-75 and I would bet that it's close to that for the 353 miles that I-75 crosses the state. Yet on busy holidays and during vacation season the traffic count goes up to 20,000 or so per hour.
Of course through the Atlanta area, with 7 lanes each direction the count would be several times that. All this works ok, until there is a mishap and then the frustration begins. Ties ups can be only a few minutes or they can in a worst case scenario last 3 or 4 hours.
It's good to have a Georgia map handy because there are alternative roads that can be used for almost the entire 353 miles. Don't know about you but I would rather be moving and be able to access gas, food and restrooms, rather than just sit on a hot isolated interstate.
Highway engineers have anticipated a worst case situation, such as have a tanker blow up under a bridge and shut the entire highway down. For years now they have been building four lane highways on both the west and the east of I-75. Highways such as U.S hwy. 27 and 411 can now be used in emergencies.
What's your take on the interstate system?
Location: Just transplanted to FL from the N GA mountains
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If money grew on trees and wasn't an issue, my biggest wish would be an outer loop. 285 reminds me so much of the 610 loop of Houston and I really didn't find Houston traffic that bad since the Sam Houston Beltway 8 opened. I don't get down to Atlanta very often, but the thing that strikes me the most is the sheer number of out-of-state cars that use 75 daily and it would be nice to get the traffic that doesn't need to be close to the city...away from the city.... JMHO... And now they are starting construction on the "Grand Parkway"... a third loop around Houston, which one would imagine to help even more....
It's been awhile since I lived in the ATL metro area (woodstock/acworth first, then tucker), but 285 never really seemed to be much of a problem. For instance, I know there were only a handful of times in the 3 years I commuted between Tucker (exit 38/ Lawrenceville Hwy) and exit 22/Powers Ferry that I had to sit in much traffic. I worked a rotating schedule (covering a 24/365 shift), so I was driving for 7am/3pm/11pm shift starts and finishes.
What was Terrible, even a decade ago, was that 75/575 trip from Acworth down to ATL, and then anytime you do 75/85 through Atlanta. Was the same yesterday, always more traffic load than that section can handle so you get to spend an hour doing 10mph to get through the worst of it before everything opens up again.
But it is what it is. If it's a bad commute, move... don't want to move, find a way to work from home or find a job that offers a better commute. Just driving through, stick to 285 around Atlanta. The state DOT can't keep up with the roads already in the state, adding More isn't going to help the limited funds issue and something else will suffer for the reduced maintenance (and increased lawsuits/payoffs for damaged vehicles).
And round and round we go... where we will stop, no one knows....
The beltway 8 loop around Houston is great and it is what Atlanta needs, but it will never happen as they waited too long to try to do an outer loop. Much of the proposed route is already built up and the nimby folks will never allow it...not that I much blame them.
There are many alternates to driving through Atlanta and many of them are not that much longer time wise and can be shorter with one traffic tie up. I have taken back roads from Macon to Birmingham on Friday afternoons to avoid Atlanta and the trip takes 4.5 hours vs the just under 4 hrs it would take through Atlanta with no traffic. I would easily spend more than 30 minutes sitting on a Fri afternoon and the alternate is stress free. Some folks are just terrified to get off the interstate...better for those of us who will.
If you are going south on I-75 for vacation, the second exit might be just what you are looking for as a brief stop-off place. It's about 7 minutes out of Tennessee to exit 351 and turn left on Hwy 2 and blend into Hwy 41. Here you will be in Ringgold, where there is a lot of civil war history. Several old homes in the city were used by the northern army for headquarters and for a hospital.
The old train depot has been renovated where the famous GENERAL was captured. There are several good restaurants in town and some of you will be interested in seeing how the town has been rebuilt after the devastating tornado of two years ago. This should be about a two hour stopover. If you have more time, there is much more to see by going east on Hwy 41 [ which winds back into I-75 ].
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Second- Big Deal!
