[BonjGopu]

Sometimes it seems like the wrong people are making the decisions.

Many years ago (I don't know exactly) Atlanta put in HOV lanes on the freeways. It was to encourage carpooling. Motorcycles, Buses, and Cars with 2+ occupants could use it freely, or you got a ticket.

That changed about a month ago. Atlanta converted those lanes to a toll lane that anyone could use as long as you paid. But it's only free if you have 3+ occupants in the car (as long as you register on the system that you will be carpooling 20-30 minutes before driving in the lane). I don't know exact figures, but I've been hearing costs of $60 to $120 million to have the lanes converted.

Except now, almost nobody wants to spend the money to use those lanes and a lot of people are complaining that it's a lot harder to find a 3rd person to carpool with. The result is Atlanta coughed up millions of dollars for a system barely anyone is using and has made traffic worse in an area that already had bad traffic problems.

I have not been through the heart of Atlanta since the system was put in, but on the parts of the freeway I do travel on, I have yet to see a single car in that lane and they are always reporting how empty the lane is on the radio. It's one of those hand on the forehead moments asking yourself, wth were they thinking.

[Psymoussy]

Sometimes it seems like the wrong people are making the decisions.

Many years ago (I don't know exactly) Atlanta put in HOV lanes on the freeways. It was to encourage carpooling. Motorcycles, Buses, and Cars with 2+ occupants could use it freely, or you got a ticket.

That changed about a month ago. Atlanta converted those lanes to a toll lane that anyone could use as long as you paid. But it's only free if you have 3+ occupants in the car (as long as you register on the system that you will be carpooling 20-30 minutes before driving in the lane). I don't know exact figures, but I've been hearing costs of $60 to $120 million to have the lanes converted.

Except now, almost nobody wants to spend the money to use those lanes and a lot of people are complaining that it's a lot harder to find a 3rd person to carpool with. The result is Atlanta coughed up millions of dollars for a system barely anyone is using and has made traffic worse in an area that already had bad traffic problems.

I have not been through the heart of Atlanta since the system was put in, but on the parts of the freeway I do travel on, I have yet to see a single car in that lane and they are always reporting how empty the lane is on the radio. It's one of those hand on the forehead moments asking yourself, wth were they thinking.

I went through Atlanta in March riding in the HOV lanes (had 4 passengers in the vehicle). Traffic was completely stopped in parts, but I was able to get through without issue. It was a great system for people with passengers. Too bad they went and broke the system.

[HotDolly]

I was back and forth through atlanta with work a few years ago and loved the carpool lanes. we always had 2 people per truck (single cab) and could make good time. When my boss came down he always complained about traffic being so bad because he was stuck in it the whole time. But if I had to pay to use the lanes I would definitely not be using them. Especially when you think about the fact that there are a lot of poverty level people around atlanta that were probably carpooling to save money, get where your going faster and split the gas. Now those people will either have to spend more money to use the tolls or find more people to share a vehicle.

another thing that confused me in atlanta the first time I went there was a section of town that was semi residential that had a six lane road. They had lights up above that showed which lanes where going what way. I guess the idea was that you open up more lanes in one direction to help traffic flow during heavy times of day. One day they werent working and people were constantly almost in head on collisions because the middle two lanes had people driving into each other. seems like a sane person would just assume 3 lanes in each direction if the lights are out, but those idiots all thought they had 4 lanes going both ways on a 6 lane road.

[BonjGopu]

another thing that confused me in atlanta the first time I went there was a section of town that was semi residential that had a six lane road. They had lights up above that showed which lanes where going what way. I guess the idea was that you open up more lanes in one direction to help traffic flow during heavy times of day. One day they werent working and people were constantly almost in head on collisions because the middle two lanes had people driving into each other. seems like a sane person would just assume 3 lanes in each direction if the lights are out, but those idiots all thought they had 4 lanes going both ways on a 6 lane road.

Yah, they call those "Suicide Lanes". There was only one stretch of road I know of that had them. It was Hwy 78 in Snellville. But they did some major road work not to long ago that did away with those lanes. Now it's 3 lanes both directions with a partition down the center.

Those lanes were always a pain. Even if the lights were working fine, you would get people who aren't paying attention to the current lane designation and cause serious hazards.

[hernkingAnank]

Sounds like they pulled a Napster!

In attempt to make more money, they end up losing what they did have.

[LeviBrawn]

From what I understand, it is only on I-85 and outside of I-285/Perimeter.

[Louthcoombutt]

I blame Robert Moses

[BonjGopu]

From what I understand, it is only on I-85 and outside of I-285/Perimeter.

That's only the beginning. I've been trying to find the article, but I remember reading that they are planning on implementing it on all the freeways.

[CO2490pL]

Maybe using some skewed chart to show, "look how much money our cash strapped state/city can make." which wont happen.


Good to know this though. I travel down to Atlanta a bit. Nice to know they are moving to Toll Roads for the HOV lanes.
Currently only I85, 15.5 miles, but is going to be expanded to over 200 miles.
I really hope that the third lane on I-75 to Atlanta doesn't become toll. Well, I might actually like that because then there might be less slow people in that lane. [yes]


Seems like the price of the pass will flux with how bad the traffic gets in the "new" lane.
Price ranges from 10 cents to 90 cents a mile depending on traffic.
If the price is right, I would buy something like that just to stay out of Atlanta traffic.

Doing a quick read, seems like Minnesota might be a model. Seems to work well up there. I also have heard that it is nice to have the toll roads that are in Florida.

[Cogebrego]

Doing a quick read, seems like Minnesota might be a model. Seems to work well up there. I also have heard that it is nice to have the toll roads that are in Florida.

Yes here you can buy a transponder that is attached to your vehicle and when you have it on and drive in the HOV lane it will deduct money from an account you set up when you get the transponder. The fares fluctuate depending on the time of day. There are sensors along the lane that detect whether there's 1 or 2+ people in the car so if you're driving by yourself and you have the transponder turned off it will alert the highway patrol and you'll get pulled over and ticketed.

It makes sense since the HOV lanes are so under-utilized. They might as well let people willing to pay onto them. It decreases traffic for everyone and still keeps the HOV lanes at a high speed.

[CO2490pL]

Can people from out of state purchase these things?

I don't live in GA, but I go down to Atlanta frequently and go through GA to get to the beach yearly. Those HOV lanes are very very nice (even when traffic is flowing) and I would like to purchase a card when I need to.

[CO2490pL]

disadvantage seems like the city would make money only during rush hour. Just went through Atlanta. For the whole 16miles? not a single person got in the toll road, it was empty, but once it went back to HOV it got filled pretty good.


Maybe should have had it toll for only certain hours of the week when traffic is the worst? Now they just have an unused lane when traffic is light.

[Munccoughe]

It may work out in time, it's like having a short toll road or a long free road.
In this city, there are bus lanes that may also be used by bikes and carpools in some areas but not in others, there are priority onramps for trucks and cars with either 2 or 3 people depending on where they are - it can get rather confusing and expensive if you get caught in the wrong place.