Many of you have been faced with my predicament. You drive down Peachtree Road and want to get in the fastest lane, the left lane. But just as you get humming along, someone stops to turn left into Mellow Mushroom, R. Thomas, Sufi’s, or Egg Harbor Cafe. And you’re stuck waiting with no turn signal and no gap to juke into the middle lane, where drivers are streaming by and looking at you with helpless sympathy. Your right turn signal blinks almost pointlessly.
Most traffic lights along Peachtree don’t have a left turn signal either, so that commute-killing left-turner in front of you is stuck adding precious minutes to your ride.
There’s hope.
GDOT announced recently the finalized plan for the long-proposed redesign of Peachtree Road between Pharr Road and the Buford-Spring Connector. The original plan included converting some travel lanes in the crowded corridor to bike lanes. That idea went over like a lead balloon — or like a New England Patriots parade on that same street. So, with public input in hand, GDOT went back to the drawing board and concocted a much better idea.
The original redesign plan only went as far south as Deering Road, but now it extends over the Interstate 85 bridge to the Buford-Spring Connector signal. But the real win is the addition of a two-way left-turn lane in place of the far left thru lane on the northbound side of the road. This will provide a much-needed neutral zone for vehicles to make left turns from either side of the road, without stopping the other thru lanes. And at each intersection with a traffic light, there now will be left turn bays (or lanes) to funnel off the turning vehicles.
The one downside to the plan is that Peachtree/northbound is now reduced to two lanes, instead of three. That could cause some extra backups, especially in the afternoon. But now the left lane will not be stopped with cars turning left, so that improvement should balance out some of the delays. Peachtree/southbound will remain three lanes and should see a definite improvement.
GDOT will also resurface the three-mile stretch of Atlanta’s most famous road and, with the new lane configuration, will inevitably re-stripe it. Officials have not announced when the project will begin or end, but they are accepting final public feedback.
This change could not have come at a better time. With housing and businesses building up at a tremendous rate in both Midtown and Buckhead, the traffic on Peachtree only is getting worse. Having some confidence in lane choices — whether heading straight or turning — will, at the very least, make the ride more enjoyable between Midtown and Buckhead.
I tip my cap to the public for speaking up and leveraging the proper change and to GDOT and other public officials for listening and acting to get a better result.
Of course, Smilin’ Mark McKay and I will monitor the changes from the WSB Skycopter when they finally are in place and our Traffic Team will be watching the traffic flow on the WSB Jam Cams up and down Peachtree. And, of course, we will have first-hand data every time we drive down Peachtree to and from WSB.
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