That’s right! We’re the second worst. CNN has reported that Atlanta drivers spent an average of 60 hours per year in delayed traffic in 2005. That amount was down 10 hours/year from 2004, but the old data doesn’t sit well with me. I feel like I spend a considerable amount more than that sitting in parking-lot-style traffic.
Three quarters of drivers go solo to work, which costs more gas and puts more cars on the road (obviously). We’re still stuck with 4-lane highways in most places, while the population continues to surge upward. As Alan Pikarski states: “Things are bad and they’re getting worse; we’ve used up the capacity that had been bequeathed to us by a previous generation, and we haven’t replaced it.”
I know I want to shoot myself when I merge onto 285 in the morning and see 4 glorious rows of snail-paced cars streaming up the highway. I would be all for an organized, well-thought out public transportation system. MARTA, our railway system, just doesn’t cut it; it doesn’t reach enough of Atlanta. The bus system is, quite honestly, slightly scary in some parts of Atlanta. I know there are people hard at work on some sort of solution, but isn’t Georgia Tech right down the road? You’d think that the school holding some of the world’s smartest brains could help figure out a decent solution. I know cost is always a factor in politics, but our taxes in this state are ridiculous as well.
Factor in the time and money that would be saved by police officers and ambulances working on the countless traffic accidents per day in the perimeter, and it might balance out. Maybe. I’m no accountant guru, but I know there’s some equilibrium in effect at some point. Sure, us ATL-iens would be suffering for a few years while they build the system (I’m thinking railway), but future generations would enjoy it greatly.
London does it, New York does it, Japan does it. I’d love to see Atlanta out of the top 10 cities with the worst traffic. Or at least not behind Los Angeles. 5.1 million people in our city last year, and that number will rise. I’m commissioning the genius level people in the world to help us figure out a way to get me to work within a reasonable amount of time. Doubling my commute is just getting old. I’ll bake cookies for the winner!
