How To Miss Atlanta

[Gneiss Guy]

Thanks for the help, guys. I have decided to take Mike1977's suggestion and head east around Hotlanta. I may even stay away from I-75 until I get into south GA. I will report later.

Richard

[palerider]

After pulling my 5th wheel thru downtown Atlanta at 5 pm in a driving rain, I ain't askeered'a nuttun

[Roadtech]

Originally Posted by Gneiss Guy

Thanks for the help, guys. I have decided to take Mike1977's suggestion and head east around Hotlanta. I may even stay away from I-75 until I get into south GA. I will report later.

Richard

Mike1977's route is west of Atlanta.

[remphoto]

I have never driven in a city where the lanes shift as much and are so poorly marked as downtown Atlanta on I-75. It is so bad that one wonders if it was designed this way to get even with the Yankees over the War of Northern Aggression.

[Shacksman]

The thing about big cities during rush hour is that at least the traffic is going slower. Works good as long as you know which lane to be in.

[davidrrand]

As a native of Atlanta living now in exile in extreme NW Ga, I had to respond. This past May, we picked up our new 25FC in Tampa. Ten minutes after leaving the dealer we were hit by a hail storm with 40 mph winds on our way to Ft. Desoto. A couple of days later we left Tampa again heading home north on I 75, leaving around 2 pm. We approached ATL on a Friday night during a raging thunderstorm and hit heavy traffic around McDonough at about 10 pm. Most of the traffic were big rigs and there were numerous lane closures and construction flashing lights. Visability was marginal and without the Voyager rear camera it would of been worse. We spent the next hour going around the west side of I 285 where traffic was actually heavier once we left I 75 with non stop semis blowing by us at 70 or better still with driving rain. When we rejoined I 75 N traffic came to a halt again and it was after midnight when traffic started to move normally near Cartersville. Another hour and a half and we hit dense fog climbing Lookout Mountain where we live. In bed around 2 am exhausted and lesson learned.
Since that maiden journey we have journeyed through St Louis, KC and Salt Lake during rush hours with similar stress. You do what you gotta do. When I have a choice, I enjoy the back roads and the scenery and avoid driving at night. Towing on the Million Dollar Hwy passes in a late September snow storm with 30 mph wind gust ain't no picnic either! 😆

[Excella1991]

Towed our 27 FC through Atlanta in early November. Left it in Dade City for the month of Dec to return north. Back through Atlanta late December to pick up AS heading to AZ. We hope to return to Atlanta in early June with our trailer for the Rotary International convention and meet up with the Rotary RV Fellowship. The only thing that stands in our way is the unbearable traffic in Atlanta.

[Seagars]

Just drove through yesterday at 11. Was fine at 65 to 70. Usual idiots swapping lanes. Took 1 hour from 15 miles north. On 85 to 18 miles south of town headed to Eufaula Al.

[Rich W]

I have made the trip down from Lexington, KY to Florida several times after Christmas and around New Years, the big snowbird/holiday travel days.

Since we don't like to travel more than 7-8 hours a day we always stop in Marietta for the night. The next day we leave about 11 and drive to Reed Bingham SP (GA) or northern Florida, wherever we can find a spot. That's shorter by miles but not hours, not with construction, accidents and other delays. We sat on I-75 from south Atlanta to Valdosta one year for 5 hours for a major accident. (Stop and go, mostly stop). I like the break at that point to unlax from the traffic (I'm pretty stressed out after Atlanta). The next morning the traffic is better and rarely any accidents.

I don't like driving through Atlanta but it's not a problem until you get past the airport, my experience, anyway. I don't mind all the lanes, the idiots, backups, I just take my time, use the Waze app and my Garmin GPS. The Atlanta DOT has lots of cameras, you can sign up for text/email alerts of accidents, construction etc. at their web site. You can select the section of road you want to monitor. I just took all of them and turned it off when we got to Florida.

It was mentioned that 10AM to 2PM is good, I would agree with that and so does my brother, a daily driver in Atlanta for 20 years. You're going to risk accidents no matter the route. Stay in the middle(ish) lane, go slow, leave room if you can and slow down if you can't, they'll come around you.

When you die, your soul goes through Atlanta. Good luck with making all the right connections.

[skalywag]

Apart from the HOV lane, they need a special lane for drunken cell phone users.

[Rich W]

I'm not understanding that HOV lane in the middle, the one that requires a GA Peach Pass (or whatever). As I understand, it will work like the one in D.C.; Inbound in the morning and outbound in the afternoon. When I drive past that nice new HOV section, traffic is backed up on both sides, north and south. One of the directions is still going to be backed up. Seems like it would have been better to extend I-285 down to Macon.

[Jim & Susan]

Originally Posted by richw46

I'm not understanding that HOV lane in the middle, the one that requires a GA Peach Pass (or whatever). As I understand, it will work like the one in D.C.; Inbound in the morning and outbound in the afternoon. When I drive past that nice new HOV section, traffic is backed up on both sides, north and south. One of the directions is still going to be backed up. Seems like it would have been better to extend I-285 down to Macon.

Neither do those of us that live here. We actually live in Henry county. The tolls, in case anybody's interested: Minimum of 50 cents during non-peak hours, as much as 90 cents per mile during peak hours. There are 12 miles of toll lanes, IIRC. So you could be looking at a $10 toll -one way- to use those dern things. This is a blue collar, working class part of the Atlanta metro area. As stated before, VERY few out-of-towners will be using the lanes because of the electronic toll collection via sensors. I just don't see how this is going to help get much traffic off of the main interstate travel lanes.

Incidentally, there was a plan at one time to add an "outer perimeter" similar to the way things were done in Houston; move 20 to 30 miles outside I-285 and build another one. Some land was purchased and several miles were built up on the northside. Then politics got in the way.

Sorry for all the pain you guys suffer on these roadways down here. I-75 is one of the busiest highways in the country. You'd think we could come with a better solution.


Jim

[Caroyl]

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[StrmyWeather]

Originally Posted by davidrrand

As a native of Atlanta living now in exile in extreme NW Ga, I had to respond. This past May, we picked up our new 25FC in Tampa. Ten minutes after leaving the dealer we were hit by a hail storm with 40 mph winds on our way to Ft. Desoto. A couple of days later we left Tampa again heading home north on I 75, leaving around 2 pm. We approached ATL on a Friday night during a raging thunderstorm and hit heavy traffic around McDonough at about 10 pm. Most of the traffic were big rigs and there were numerous lane closures and construction flashing lights. Visability was marginal and without the Voyager rear camera it would of been worse. We spent the next hour going around the west side of I 285 where traffic was actually heavier once we left I 75 with non stop semis blowing by us at 70 or better still with driving rain. When we rejoined I 75 N traffic came to a halt again and it was after midnight when traffic started to move normally near Cartersville. Another hour and a half and we hit dense fog climbing Lookout Mountain where we live. In bed around 2 am exhausted and lesson learned.
Since that maiden journey we have journeyed through St Louis, KC and Salt Lake during rush hours with similar stress. You do what you gotta do. When I have a choice, I enjoy the back roads and the scenery and avoid driving at night. Towing on the Million Dollar Hwy passes in a late September snow storm with 30 mph wind gust ain't no picnic either! 😆

I was just wondering how a backup camera was useful for you while driving? On another note, we just returned from Ft. Desoto, our first visit. Only stormed at night and we really enjoyed the park and can see why the reviews and comments are so positive. I'm really glad our inaugural trip last year went better than yours!