How would you de-congest I-285?
BY Ken Edelstein • December 15, 2009
Revive285 Top End — an initiative launched by the state Department of Transportation and the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority to figure out how to clear up congestion along the northern crescent of I-285 — is seeking public input.
Revive285 has proposed eight alternatives, ranging from weak (just one new bus lane in each direction) to pretty darned exciting stuff that should have happened years ago (a rail line, presumably from the Perimeter area to Cumberland). You can download the PDF here.
I just got a note from Katie Little at Hayslett Group asking me to post information on how to comment (see below).
I hope people who are concerned about Atlanta’s transportation systems — and particularly who want alternatives to the automobile — will comment. But I’d also like to learn more about it, er, the lazy way — that is, by getting someone to explain it to us with some comments.
At any rate, here’s Katie Little’s note on commenting:
We all know that travel conditions on I-285’s top end are a serious problem that must be addressed. But how do we fix the problem? Express buses? Light rail? More lanes? Toll lanes?
In 2006, the Georgia Department of Transportation and the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority launched revive285 top end, an initiative to develop a transportation solution for the northern I-285 corridor between I-75 and I-85. The project team, with public input, has since developed eight transportation solutions or “alternatives” to address the I-285 top end problems.
In November 2009, these alternatives were presented at a series of public information open houses. The project team is now seeking further public input. If you live, work or play on this corridor, this is your opportunity to help determine which of the eight alternatives should move forward, be modified, or be discarded. You can make a difference.
Go online now to www.revive285.com to: watch the alternatives video, compare the alternatives with the interactive mapping tool, learn more about the revive285 project and provide valuable feedback via comment, survey or message board. Or, you can contact the project hotline directly at 770-431-7445.
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RAIL PLEASE!!!!! North through Gwinnett, perhaps?
For five years I commuted across that top end. I lived in south Cobb near Powers Ferry Rd and worked in north Dekalb near Chamblee Tucker Rd. It was a terrible commute and, because of it, I ended up moving to Dekalb near my job.
If there had been a rail route to take I’m not sure it would have done me any good unless there was also convenient connecting transit to my specific job and home locations on both ends. I know from my experiences with MARTA buses that even a gruesome 45-minute ride across 12 miles of 285 can be preferable to dealing with winding, looooong bus routes when you’re eager to get home.
My fix for 285: encourage smart-growth, mixed-use compact residential and commercial cluster developments and connect them with diversified transit means such as car, rail, bike and BRT routes. Undo the damage done by years of unsustainable, car-dependent, single-use zoning. Anything short of that will likely be a temporary bandage on a gaping wound.
OK, that’s a pie in the sky solution considering the cost and politics involved…but it’s a beautiful pie. Really, traffic like we have now is a symptom of a larger disease: unsustainable development of the built environment. Even if you temporarily alleviate traffic, population and economic shifts will end up amplifying the larger problem with development.
All this is to say that no traffic solution will be viable long-term if it exists in a vacuum outside the concerns of putting people in more sustainable built environments.
Darin: I think you hit the nail on the head. Wish I’d thought of that point. I do think there are some efforts in the Cumberland CID, the Perimeter CID and Sandy Springs to improve build in a way that encourages walking, shorter vehicular trips,and multi-use development. Precious little is being done to tie those sort of efforts together so that they work on a regional level. And, in Georgia at least, it’s not something that the DOT would even consider considering.