Maybe they’re confused or just taking advantage, but some motorists recently given the privilege of driving on the Ga. 400 shoulder during the morning rush are doing so when they’re not supposed to – and inviting a police crackdown.
In an attempt to improve traffic for commuters, the Georgia Department of Transportation on May 14 opened to drivers the southbound right shoulder of Ga. 400 from Holcomb Bridge Road in Roswell to the Northridge Road exit, and from Northridge to the North Springs MARTA exit in Sandy Springs.
Shoulder-riding is allowed only during the hours of 6:30 to 9:30 a.m., Monday through Friday.
After a fitful start to the experiment, with many drivers confused about where legal shoulder-riding started and ended, travel times have been improving along that stretch of highway, GDOT data show. But police also have noticed instances of illegal lane usage outside the rush hour.
Sandy Springs officers are handing out warnings to drivers they find using the shoulder outside the allowed hours. On June 14, they’ll start writing real tickets.
Roswell police said they are stopping anyone riding the shoulder unlawfully and have left it to the officer’s discretion whether to issue a warning or a citation.
It’s a matter of safety, Sandy Springs police Officer Forrest Bohannon told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Friday. Outside designated shoulder-riding times, she said, “people still use that shoulder lane for emergency situations.”
GDOT sweeps the lane prior to 6:30 a.m. weekdays “to make sure there are no obstructions and they’re ready to respond during the 6:30 to 9:30 window,” Bohannon said. After 9:30 a.m., she said, state crews don't come by as frequently, “and there’s the danger somebody may be stalled on the shoulder, sitting in their car waiting for a tow truck.”
“If somebody is traveling 45 mph in that lane and for whatever reason doesn’t see another car parked there, that’s going to be a danger for both that driver and the car that’s stalled,” Bohannon said.
According to a GDOT website (http://bit.ly/JxBvAC), motorists cannot ride the Ga. 400 shoulder outside the morning rush, but transit buses can. Trucks with more than six wheels cannot use the lane at any time. The speed limit is 45 mph. Unauthorized shoulder riding can lead to a ticket and a fine of up to $1,000 or up to 12 months in jail.
Motorists interviewed Friday at the Shell gas station on Holcomb Bridge Road near Ga. 400 in Roswell said they weren’t surprised some were riding the shoulder unlawfully.
“If traffic is backed up, they’ll automatically go there because it’s open for a few hours” in the morning, said Craig Johnson of Alpharetta. “If they’re going to open it up for a few hours, they may as well open it up for the whole day.”
Caroline Goldstein of Brookhaven said that with all the attention surrounding the shoulder lanes’ opening to traffic, “people got it in their minds that they were open permanently rather than only during the rush hour.”
Goldstein agreed with police ticketing shoulder riders, saying, “The danger of having no shoulder lane outweighs being stopped an extra 10 or 15 minutes in traffic.”
Antonio Rivera of Roswell seconded that opinion. “Everybody’s in a rush,” he said. “People are trying to take more than they’ve been given.”
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