I drive 47 miles to school daily and witness how Atlanta fails its people
If you asked a hundred Atlantans what they dislike most about this city, most would say traffic.
It’s the first thing people complain about online, in passing conversations, even in the small talk before meetings. And they’re not wrong. Atlanta’s traffic is exhausting, expensive and deeply unfair. I’ve lived in that unfairness since pre-K.
Every morning, I travel 47 miles just to get to school. If I’m lucky, 90 minutes of taillights, brake lights and silence — which is enough time to watch the sunrise through a windshield instead of a window.
People ask me, “Why not just go to a closer school?” But not everyone can. Not everyone can change their ZIP code, find a new job or uproot their life for convenience. For many of us, the distance isn’t a choice. It’s the cost of trying to get somewhere better.
So much precious time is lost being stuck in traffic
There’s a strange rhythm to being stuck in motion.
You start memorizing the city; the same billboards, the same cracked roads, the same faces behind steering wheels who look just as tired as you do.
Sometimes I wonder how many dreams have been delayed between these lanes, how many hours we’ve traded for miles.
Atlanta’s traffic steals time, which, in my opinion, is the most valuable thing we own. From the people who can least afford to lose it.
For every car stuck on the highway, life is happening (or slipping away) in different ways.
In 30 extra minutes, someone could’ve made it home before dark, tucked their child in or caught their breath after a long day. In 30 minutes, a loved one could’ve passed, a chance could’ve been missed, a door could’ve closed.
But what if it didn’t have to be this way? What if you didn’t have to live in Fulton, DeKalb or Clayton counties to have full access to MARTA or depend on luck and good weather just to get to work or school on time?
We could choose differently for Atlanta’s benefit
Traffic has become our city’s shared burden, yet it affects people unequally. Those with flexible jobs or reliable cars can adjust. Those without can’t. We’ve built wider highways instead of better lives, making movement a privilege when it should be a right. It doesn’t have to stay this way.
Expanding and improving public transportation doesn’t have to be about shorter commutes; it could rather be about transportation diversity. A city that leaves people stranded on the side of the road was never progressing, if anything it’s considered stalling. Atlanta could choose differently.
We could invest more in electric buses, extend MARTA to the neighborhoods that need it most, create safer stations and build schedules that respect people’s time. Progress can be measured in the ability to move, to reach opportunities, to come home without losing half your day doing it. The next time I go to school, I’ll wake up before dawn again. I’ll drive those 47 miles, watch the sunrise over a city still stuck in place and hope that one day Atlanta will finally move, not just its cars, but its people.
Serah Alamer is a junior at Al Falah Academy in Norcross. She commutes 47 miles from Stockbridge. When she’s not volunteering her time in service-based clubs at her school, she enjoys journalism, public speaking and creating community-focused projects. She’s an integral part of her school and hopes to study international law in college.
