I-285 Top-End Express Lanes Visualization - June 2024

[@triplethreatpodcasts]

One more lane bro, this time it'll finally fix traffic. Oh and maintenance, don't worry about that that'll be someone else's problem.

[@CoolCoverBro]

I'd rather see these lanes be dedicated to HOV/BRT, it's a shame to see more freeway construction instead of investing this money into something that serves everyone for transit.

[@elevatorsof14s]

With all due respect, your concern is exactly why this is being constructed. The express lanes, along with the direct express-to-street exits, are intended to allow for better transit connectivity. Buses can use the express lanes for free, rather than sit in traffic.

[@zactishgarten7703]

@@elevatorsof14s totally get that! i think the concern is that non-exclusive express lanes could still end up with congestion just as bad as the normal lanes

[@joannekearney5329]

I noticed areas that are heavily pixelated ... makes me wonder what is being claimed for the roadway....

[@LSHoang]

Last I heard, 400 properties via eminent domain.

[@muhnameizjeff]

Imagine if this right of way were used for trains and busses.

It would seem I should be investing in construction and cement companies...

[@kendrickharris6987]

It look cool asl

[@darianflenoy758]

I heard years ago they were talking about double decking the whole perimeter including the express lanes for buses and trucks

[@qthetroll]

spaghetti junction 😵‍💫

[@jrae1997]

Right! It looks like it's gonna be even more noodles in Spaghetti Junction. But honestly, every major exchange on 285 is gonna look like that. 75/285 already does and so does 400/285. Spaghetti Junction isnt so specual as it was years ago.

[@kendrickharris6987]

Please build this

[@Foggen]

With the amount of land you'll have to condemn for these high bridges you could double the width of 285 with normal lanes. Why not just build more lanes for everyone, and not try to nickel and dime us with tolls? Or if you must build bridges, why not regional light rail?

[@tommarney1561]

Double the width of 285 with normal lanes? Don't be ridiculous. Most of this elevated stuff appears to be within the existing rights of way. That's most of the point of elevating it. Building new lanes, for everyone or otherwise, is cripplingly expensive. Tolling will at least somewhat recoup the cost of these lanes. Why not regional light rail? First, because it's not GDOT's job. Second, because it's cripplingly expensive, too, and it requires subsidies to operate, subsidies that no agency is volunteering to pay. You really should ask better questions.

[@tommarney1561]

@stynkanator I didn't say driving wasn't subsidized. Don't put words in my mouth. What I will say is that the sources of subsidies for driving are well established and are at least partly paid for by fuel taxes-- taxes on driving. You really shouldn't have to have that explained to you.

[@Foggen]

@@tommarney1561 "Tolling will at least somewhat recoup the cost" To what end? This is an extremely expensive and disruptive project that boxes GDOT in in terms of the ability to expand normal lanes. What's the upside to citizens? They get to have poor road capacity used as leverage to extract money from them, and a lot of people get their land taken by force. I'm sure from GDOT's perspective this is great, because then they can leverage that money into job security for the lifetime of an enormous project, but for the rest of us it's a shakedown. We're better off if they do nothing at all.

[@tommarney1561]

@@Foggen Don't dump on me. I'm here to criticize the dumb arguments that ignorant people are making here, not to be a target for every passing troll. If you want to denounce this project here, make your own post and leave me TF out of it. But, since you've made a dumb argument yourself, I guess I'll have to point out that directly recouping costs through tolls is a self-evident good, and one that only a tiny proportion of highway projects even attempt.

[@Foggen]

@@tommarney1561 If you want to be left TF out of people's arguments you might be well advised not to reply to them. One might assume that's obvious but I guess some people don't understand things. Also, an ill-advised project is still a bad idea if it pays for itself.

[@nubianking4203]

Love my state of Georgia. So amazing to see all the massive growth over the past 30 yrs

[@TayReed]

There needs to be an auxiliary lane eastbound from New Northside to Riverside. Traffic backs up so bad right there all the way past Cobb Cloverleaf

[@SarahMottram]

Is this an out of season April fools joke

[@jermainec2462]

what kind of city skylines shit is this 😂😂 ??!

[@jasonyuan4034]

Okay express lines for collecting more money.. what about that so broken 285? my windshield and tires were broken 3 times already from past year. who will pay me on the repair cost?

[@MikeBrady68]

This probably would not have been need if an outer perimeter had been built decades ago, but I'm glad this is moving forward!

[@user-uo7fw5bo1o]

With all the money being spent and property being seized by eminent domain for this elevated tollway you could have transformed the 285 into a quadruple highway like Ontario's Highway 401 in Toronto or added a Northern Perimeter elevated metrorail. But I understand you would rather make a mint off induced demand with those Lexus lanes.

[@tommarney1561]

Free lanes like the ones in Toronto would induce much more demand than tolled lanes as proposed here. You have no idea what induced demand is.

[@user-uo7fw5bo1o]

Have you seen 95 in Miami-Dade County? They have high priced toll lanes too yet all lanes free and toll are gridlocked at least from photos I have seen. Same thing for I-10 in Houston at rush hour

[@tommarney1561]

@user-uo7fw5bo1o No, I haven't. The theory is that rush-hour tolls can be set high enough to drive enough users away to keep the lanes moving. I don't understand why the agency that runs those lanes wouldn't do that, but it's something that could easily be changed.

[@tommarney1561]

@@user-uo7fw5bo1o I did some research on this and discovered that, while the tolls in Miami and likely Houston seem high to you, in fact they're capped. Capping tolls prevents the lanes from being managed correctly, thus creating congestion where there shouldn't be any. The Transurban lanes in northern Virginia don't have caps on their tolls and thus operate efficiently all the time unless there's a crash or some other incident. Here's the kicker: The Transurban lanes are privately owned and operated, and there's no way that Transurban would've signed a deal to build and operate them if they'd been forbidden to operate them efficiently. Unfortunately, AFAIK, the lanes in Atlanta will be publicly owned and therefore vulnerable to the same political pressure from ignorant people that have caused the Miami and Houston lanes to fail. That may be the most compelling argument against the project.

[@tommarney1561]

@user-uo7fw5bo1o I did some research and found that the tolls on the lanes in Miami and Houston are capped, presumably due to political interference by people who don't understand how managed lanes work. The Transurban lanes in northern Virginia are privately owned and free to charge whatever they want, so they're kept at a level that yields rush hour speeds of about 45 mph, near the lanes' capacity, and don't jam up unless there's a crash. The argument that GDOT will be unable to resist political pressure to operate the lanes stupidly is the best argument against them I've heard here. Congratulations. 😄

[@tommarney1561]

I've been a critic of GDOT for most of my life and I'm not exactly sold on this project, but it annoys me that people's criticisms of it are so blisteringly ignorant.

[@Freewayjim]

Agreed!

[@stephentuday651]

This would be an engineering marvel if it gets built!

[@JAXONcreed]

I hate it. Please build transit. This benefits no-one except the wealthy.

[@iamnatis]

This looks like crap and won't solve anything.

[@bigggincognitohammy6791]

That’s what I’m saying it will literally solve nothing

[@JJaani]

Stop building subdivisions and creating t-intersections everywhere... GA should have built the outer perimeter long time ago.... now we have to deal with this cash cow express lanes.