Metro ATL's top traffic bottlenecks, according to 1 group

By Ariel Hart

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

For anyone who didn't know, "Georgia's quality of life and economic productivity are being reduced by [transportation] choke points" -- and the worst ones in Georgia are all in metro Atlanta. That's according to TRIP, The Road Information Program, an organization that's come out with a new list of bottlenecks.

The worst one of all? Main Street, of course -- the Downtown Connector. Ga. 400 and the northern metro interstate highways get frequent mention in this hall of shame.

TRIP isn't sticking to just roads, though, unlike its report on traffic jams here in 2003. The Washington-based organization has looked not just at congestion but at whether a location helps people without cars get around, and at overall quality of life.

Based on TRIP's criteria, the Amtrak station in Brookwood, for instance, "causes delays on the entire Norfolk Southern main line when a train loads and unloads passengers," and is outdated. MARTA made the top 10, too, with a line that can accommodate only two-car trains at the Bankhead station.

There are solutions, however: expensive ones.  They include building new lanes; putting electronic toll collection systems on HOV lanes, where solo drivers could choose to get out of congestion for a price; and replacing or expanding transit stations.

So, according to TRIP, here's the worst of the worst:

1. Downtown Connector

2. I-75 from I-285 to Wade Green Road in Cobb County

3. I-85 from I-285 to Ga. 316, DeKalb and Gwinnett counties

4. I-285 from Paces Ferry Road to Ga. 400, Cobb and Fulton counties

5. I-285 from Ga. 400 to I-85, Fulton and DeKalb counties

6. I-285 from I-85 to U.S. 78, DeKalb County

7. Atlanta Amtrak station

8. Ga. 400 from I-285 to Holcomb Bridge Road, Fulton County

9. MARTA blue/green trunk line -- between Ashby station and Edgewood/Candler Park station

10. I-285 from U.S. 78 to I-20 in DeKalb County