Commuting in Atlanta

When, where and how to travel

horrible traffic! Worse than NY, Chicago and I'd even say L.A very limited public transportation.

you must have a good car to get around!

Here's the deal. To get from Point A to point B, you must drive down Peachtree street, Peachtree Road, Peachtree-Dunwoody Road, or on Peachtree parkway. Any one of them is having construction done, so take an alternate route. There is public transportation but you must bring a beard trimmer to use while waiting for the bus. And a sandwich and a bedroll. If you leave more than 4 feet between you and the next car, someone driving a very large SUV will speeze in front of you. This is ok, because you can't see the stop lights anyway, so go ahead and leave room for power-braking. Never honk, or the granny two cars up will get out of her truck and shoot you full of buckshot.

Any questions?

Juliet in Atlanta, Georgia said: Here's the deal. To get from Point A to point B, you must drive down Peachtree street, Peachtree Road, Peachtree-Dunwoody Road, or on Peachtree parkway. ..Never honk, or the granny two cars up will get out of her truck and shoot you full of buckshot.

Any questions?

You left out two very important facts about Atlanta.

One - Everything is on a Peachtree street (of some form or other).

Two - The Big Chicken in Marietta is the center of the Universe and you can find anything in Atlanta by starting at that point.

Host said: When, where and how to travel

Make sure that you have a safe and reliable auto and know how to be patient in traffic. Leave your home super early daily for work! The MARTA train only runs a limited distance EAST and WEST, then NORTH and SOUTH, so it's convenient for folks who can catch it and go downtown. MARTA buses are slower than next year! Many neighborhoods beyond don't want the train extended to "their" areas. Funny, because people don't mind commuting to "their" areas if they need to. So people don't escape anything in Atlanta.

Plan for 1.5 hours to make an avg 30 mile trip if you live outside of the "perimeter" and work inside the "perimeter" during regular day shifts Monday - Friday.

Plan for 30 minutes to make 6 mile trip on surface roads.

Listening to traffic report on radio is imperative. If I'm headed towards Atlanta from home, traffic report is 1st thing I look for.

Know all alternative routes. Interstates may be clear one minute, then idiots do something to cause wreck and turn 6 lanes into parking lot where you can sit for an hour or more.

If you can avoid rush hours, it's not all that bad. Try to leave real early or go home late to avoid 7-9AM and 4-6PM.
Also learn some less traveled routes, other than the expressways.

My advice....get a helicopter. Driving is overrated.

This is the only town I've ever lived in where cars seemingly flip on their lids for no apparent reason all over town.

Also remember there is an art to using the interstate system in Atlanta. All road signs indicating lanes are merging or ending are too close to the point of the merge for the volume of Atlanta traffic (and particularly out-of-town traffic) to be of any use causing massive jams, rude driving, and of course accidents at the point of the merge.

Best bet is to stay off the interstates and go with my original plan....get a helicopter.

I was reading an article in Motor Trend magazine recently that reaffirmed what I already knew about Atlanta traffic. The story was detailing a trip across the U.S. in a new Chevy Malibu and the writer who got the leg of the journey from Florida thru Georgia said he didn't heed the warnings of some friends and co-workers about Atlanta traffic during commuting hours. Long story short, he got stuck for over three hours in the gridlock. He said that Atlanta traffic was far worse than anything L.A. or Chicago could dish out.