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Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Gwinnett County: You can check out any time you like but you can never leave
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
My girlfriend is buying a house in Monroe, east of Winder near Athens. It’s practical for her - she teaches high school there, and she will pursue her doctorate at UGA starting in January. It’s about 40 miles, as the crow flies, from Duluth to Monroe.
I’m kind of dreading it. Why? Because it’s difficult to get there from here because of traffic. Pleasant Hill to 85 to 316 to Highway 11. Sounds simple, yes? Gwinnett is like the song “Hotel California.” You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.
I was talking about this the other day with a co-worker, Frank. Frank lives in Bethlehem, which is not far away at all from where my girlfriend will be moving. “It generally takes me about an hour to an hour and 15 minutes to get from my house to the office here in John’s Creek. It’s pretty smooth sailing until you start getting in Gwinnett. That’s when the backup starts.
“You start to learn the back roads pretty quick. I get off 316 right around Briscoe Field, Gwinnett County Airport. I take a couple of the back roads down to (State Road) 20. You can generally follow the traffic. From 20, I will cross over Peachtree Industrial and run along the eastern border of Forsyth County, taking James Burgess Road, then Old Atlanta Road. Do not take McGinnis Ferry under any circumstances. Do not take Pleasant Hill under any circumstances. Abbott’s Bridge is not going to be much better.”
“What do you think about Sugarloaf Parkway?” I asked.
“For me, traffic gets so backed up, I won’t even try to get to Sugarloaf Parkway,” Frank replied. “It’s not so much that Sugarloaf Parkway has too much traffic. It’s just that the traffic lights are so poorly timed. It’s the same problem with Pleasant Hill, I guess. Too many traffic lights, and if you hit one red, you hit them all red.
“Let’s face it: there’s just no easy way getting around Gwinnett County,” he said.
It’s good that Gwinnett County is growing. Traffic, I guess, is a necessary evil of growth. I just wish that our county commissioners did a better job of managing growth, instead of just adding buildings and then having stoplights as an afterthought.
Do you know any easy ways to get around Gwinnett County?
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