A new traffic light at the Ga. 400 exit and eastbound Holcomb Bridge Road has left many drivers in north Fulton and beyond frustrated with increased delays on their daily commute this week.
But while angry drivers blamed the new light for 20- to 30-minute waits on the exit ramp, a much bigger and longer backup on the road Thursday morning is indicative of a bigger issue: Atlanta roads, particularly 400, are simply taxed.
Add a stalled car (the problem Thursday morning), a new traffic light or a construction project to the mix and your commute time can double or triple.
“Holcomb Bridge Road has 70,000 cars a day and Ga. 400 has about 190,000; they are almost always at capacity,” said Steve Acenbrak, Transportation Department director for the city of Roswell. “With this ramp situation at Holcomb Bridge and 400, there was always a delay. The signal is a new object for people to focus on and say that is the problem, but if you backed up two months ago and looked at a video of the ramp you would see the same cars.”
Traffic on Ga. 400 increased by up to 15 percent when the roadway removed the toll in 2013, and each year, as more residents move to the metro area, even more cars are on the roads. But population increases have a small, gradual impact on traffic patterns over time that often go unnoticed by the average driver — until you are sitting idle on the exit ramp of Ga. 400 wondering what is going on.
The state Department of Transportation has projects underway to ease the congestion, including one that focuses on Ga. 400 and I-285, but these plans won’t see completion for several years.
The backup in Roswell is the result of the city’s decision to remove a “trap lane” for drivers making a left turn onto Old Alabama Road from Holcomb Bridge Road. The inside left turn lane ends, forcing cars that expected to continue forward to merge. It resulted in preventable accidents, Acenbrak said.
Eliminating the need to merge meant shifting lanes, and the traffic signal was installed to prevent the new flows of traffic from merging or, worse, colliding. The city added a second lane on the ramp, but some drivers didn’t seem to notice. They did notice that the traffic signal was poorly timed.
“They want more green time, but that would back Holcomb Bridge up to Woodstock,” Acenbrak said. When construction is complete or near complete, the signal will make timing adjustments (it doesn’t now) and drivers will be able to make a right turn on red.
“When this is all said and done, it will be a lot better than it is right now. There is no detour, no bypass, no magic bridge over 400 I can put out there,” Acenbrak said, adding that he understands how drivers may be frustrated. On Wednesday, the city posted a list of FAQs on Facebook to address driver concerns.
Before Ga. 400 went toll-free in 2013, commuters worried over estimates that traffic on the road would increase as much as 18 percent. The increase was closer to 10 percent to 15 percent, state DOT spokeswoman Natalie Dale said. But, she pointed out that road traffic has increased across the country as the economy continues to improve and people return to work.
The population of the metro area, currently 5.5 million, also has kept growing. By 2040, it will grow to 8 million, according to recently updated estimates from the Atlanta Regional Commission. Most of that growth will be concentrated in the suburbs and, to a lesser extent, other neighborhoods inside 285, including downtown Atlanta, Midtown and Buckhead.
A redesign of the I-285/Ga. 400 interchange will give more options to drivers in one of the most heavily trafficked areas of the state. The redesign, which will begin in late 2016, will feature flyover ramps and additional capacity, Dale said. The project is scheduled for completion in 2020.
Other projects over the next few years to address traffic concerns include the first reversible toll lanes in the state, Dale said. Drivers may have seen construction on I-75 South, where the toll lane will run down the median and shift direction with the flow of traffic. The fee will be determined by how many people use it, she said. Drivers also will see these lanes in the northwest corridor, along I-75 and I-575, both in center and outer lane positions.
Until then, commuters will just have to find ways to manage.
Acenbrak’s suggestion that drivers in Roswell find another route or avoid the area for a few months generally doesn’t go over so well, but the days of a carefree commute down 400 from Roswell to downtown Atlanta are long gone, he said.
It’s not just time to look for alternate transportation such as mass transit, biking or walking, he said, it’s time to look for alternate ways of living and working, including living closer to where you work, telecommuting or working outside the traditional 9 to 5 shift.
“We have to embrace all of these things,” Acenbrak said. “The industry has come to realize that we cannot build our way out of congestion.”
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