Straight Through Atlanta (Beauty is in the eye of the beholder)

jaredjohn4

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner
Joined
Oct 16, 2008
Ok, I've read all the comments about driving through Atlanta. Yes, I've been stuck in downtown Atlanta during rush hour and it wasn't good. I try to avoid peak travel times going through there. I might stop for breakfast or supper and then head through, but it seems like it takes a long time to go around and I haven't had much trouble going through. We live just west of Chicago, so I did a Google maps search. From just North of the 285 intersection to just South of the 285 intersection is about 23 miles and with the slowdown of traffic they say it takes about 43 minutes (5:30 Central Time, weekday). Chicago on the other hand is a different story, there isn't a real bypass of the city. When we head in on I-90 traffic starts picking up around Route 59. We take I-90, I-290, I-294, I-80 to I-65 South. Sometimes traffic is tight all the way and slow, sometimes tight and running over 70. It is 72 miles and 1 hour, 52 minutes until you are out in the clear. I've done it in 1 hr, 45 minutes, and a little over 3 hours. It just depends on the time you go. If I skip Chicago and go through Southern Illinois it adds about 60 miles and less aggravation. The way I go just depends on the time of day I am leaving home to hit the traffic.
 
Not sure of your point but depending on when, your issue in Atlanta is not just between top end and bottom end perimeter (285).
 
When we start out we only get 20 minutes until we hit the Chicago mess. Atlanta looks easy from our perspective.
 
I live 50 miles from Atlanta and have been downtown many times. I can tell you it will be a lot faster if you go through vs. around 285 if you do not hit inside the perimeter between 6-10 am or 4-8 pm. Also right now 285 is a mess on both the east and west side. the 285/85 interchange (spaghetti junction) is a nightmare with the new parallel overpass construction.
 


It may not be as bad as Chicago (in most ranking of worst traffic it does rank below Chicago), but you are looking at the wrong time.

I live NW of Atlanta, and used to have to commute through it. You are looking at it at 6:30pm local time. It is starting to clear at that point. Also the traffic will extend about 10-15 miles outside the perimeter (going in in the AM, going out in the PM). Also if you looked today then you are also looking just before school starts back up and so it lighter as everyone goes out for just a bit more vacation time.

Check again at 4:30 central time, in two weeks once the schools are back in. I agree with Jimmy, it almost always better to go through than to use I285 "bypass".
 
Assuming your on i75 south... go downtown/through Atlanta.. if i were on i85 south i might go around.. any mixtures (i75 south to i85 south or vice versa) i would always go around.
 
@jaredjohn4 you can have the traffic in Atlanta - we've been stuck in traffic there (all major roads) enough that we avoid it like the plague. :crazy2:

Lived there for a few years (Lawrenceville) with dh's job transfer, and was sooo happy to leave.
Never had to fight Chicago traffic, but did have a 6 year battle with Wash.DC.

So will gladly take your word for 'your' experience as we do not get near it now, especially Mh & towing.
 


We live real close to Lawrenceville (Lilburn). I like it here a lot but i work from home and never get out during peak traffic times... i am on i85/i285/i75 maybe once every other month..
 
This is a good post for us as we will be traveling down I75 to the Fort for Halloween this year. We have traveled through Atlanta several times but mainly after 9 PM with the exception of one year when we hit it at 5PM. I was pulling my teardrop at the time and will say that the drivers in Atlanta were great about letting (helping) me when I needed to switch lanes. This year due to DW's work schedule, we are planning on leaving around 5AM which with fueling and rest stops will put us in Atlanta around 1 or 2. We had considered taking the bypass but had heard that it was a longer drive as compared to driving straight through and did not really offer any other advantage. My DW is great about looking ahead and letting me know what lane to be in as I concentrate on driving and my surroundings. After traveling through Atlanta several times, the lanes are not really an issue now. After reading what has been posted about the bypass, I think we will stick with I75 South even at 1 or 2PM.

Steve

@bama_ed We will be staying at Lake Louisa the night before we check into the Fort. This sure makes check in day at the Fort more enjoyable. This is a non park day with camp set up, get a shower, head down to Downtown Disney (I know, but some habits are hard to break) for an early dinner. Back to the Fort for some looping and then early to bed to get ready for our first park day. :thumbsup2:thumbsup2
 
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I75 South at 1 or 2PM straight through is a no brainer.... no reason at all to go around
 
If you're towing a trailer, you do have to do several lane changes if you stay on I75; you have to stay to the right at one intestate split and to the left on a couple of others if memory serves me right. There are also instances where the right most lanes become exit only lanes.
 
I can say from experience that you want to avoid the 2AM time frame also.
We had a blowout on the trailer going North in the middle of Atlanta last year, we were back on the road in 20 minutes, GA highway patrol stopped to offer assistance about 5 mins after we pulled onto the surface street. I figure if I can get through that my Atlanta transportation issues are covered.
 
In our recent trips through Atlanta I have found that I very much like the HOV lanes. I get over to the left side, get in the lane, skip a lot of the disappearing lanes, and am well out of downtown before I need to merge into regular traffic. The HOV lanes have no traffic to the left and a double line to the right, giving you a notable amount of extra room on crowded roads.

That said, I will also say that we were in Atlanta at 10pm last week and they had 75 shut down to 1 lane about 25 miles north of downtown - it took us an hour to go 3 miles!


As for Chicago - there's almost nowhere we go that doesn't deal with Chicago and it is miserable anymore. No good time to go, and even if you take the bypass it dumps you down into the 80/94 run south of the city, which is consistently one of the most overcrowded sections of road I've ever seen. When we headed south 2+ weeks ago we hit Chicago at 2p on a Sunday afternoon and still lost 55 minutes to traffic (45 of which were on that 80/94 run).
 
last april it took us 4 hours to get through atlanta. stop and go the whole way 1-75, bypass, then back on 1-75. we had to change our stay from manchester tn to cassville, ga.

80/94 around chicago can be murder at rush times, 10am to 1pm it moves along pretty good. my business is near O'hare airport
 
I served a three year sentence in the Atlanta Federal Pen Interstate System from roughly 1995 to 1997 (up I85 in Gwinnett County say hello to the Pleasant Hill Road exit area that serves Duluth in Gwinnett.)

It's my belief that I was let out early for good behavior (no confirmation from the guards at Shawshank)...

Now I avoid Hot-lanta like the plague - only venturing into the Metro when I absolutely have to. Mostly because I have two family members that live in the greater metro area.

For those travelling from the Great White North (that map spot above Nashville) I suggest coming down I65 through Birmingham (the Ham) and avoid Hot-lanta all together. Depending on which direction you come from, that's not always an option, but that's my recommendation.

Which is worth what you paid for it. :confused3

Bama Ed
 
I have been altering our trip down to include a stop in the panhandle so that we can avoid Atlanta and take 65 down. The last time we came through Louisville it wasnt much better though.
 

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