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Is The Northern Arc Coming Back?!!!

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This entry was posted on 7/20/2007 6:17 PM and is filed under uncategorized.

Just when you thought it was truly, truly dead... THE NORTHERN ARC RISES AGAIN!!!

According to today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Northern Arc is likely to be resurrected, but starting at I-75 somewhere between Adairsville and Calhoun and making its way to I-85 via Cumming.

Please click here to read the full article.

Incidentally, the Georgia DOT has already proposed an east-west GRIP corridor that would run from I-59 in Dade County to I-85 in Franklin County. Please click here to see GDOT's current GRIP status map.

Based on the current Northern Arc idea and the proposed east-west GRIP corridor, it seems to me that GDOT might just as well build the latter proposal. 

If I were to design the road, I would forget about I-59 as a starting point. I have traveled GA 136 from Dade County into Walker County, and that route takes tons of twists and turns to get over the Lookout Mountain ridgeline that isolates Dade County from the rest of the state. IMHO, it would cost millions of dollars to build a 4-lane highway across this portion alone.

Before even so much as picking potential study routes, how much traffic would this road really take off Metro Atlanta's overcrowded roads? I would like to know how much of that traffic would be originating from Chattanooga, TN, and heading to Greenville, SC, compared to the tens of thousands of local residents' vehicles that use I-285. If there is enough Chattanooga-to-Greenville traffic to justify the cost, then, OK, go ahead, plan it, build it, and let them pay for it through tolls. Still, I seriously doubt this is going to make any real dent on our traffic.

That's it for now. Thanks for reading and please come back often.

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    • 7/20/2007 9:56 PM XOZ wrote:
      I was initially opposed to the original Northern Arc, because I saw it solely as a plan by builders to build huge urban meccas at every interchange and sprawl the hell out of a stretch that was already sprawling bad enough. From what I could tell, a major shopping mall was planned at every freeway connection: 400, I-75, I-575 and the Mall of Georgia was already built in anticipation of the completion of it.

      The thing is, though, this road IS needed. I have lived in the area near where the road was planned for years, and getting east to west is a nightmare to impossible. The current route for ME to get to, say, Gwinnett? Cross a zig-zagging horror of a road across Buford Dam! Gainesville is no easier.

      I've already had my own project idea for a Super 2 connecting Jasper to Gainesville tying into Old S.R. 318, so essentially this project fits right in. Since it WILL be a toll road, it will undoubtably be around $5 to travel the entire length. As a result of that, the throngs of sprawl will be somewhat reduced. I think if you traveled the existing route this is designed to replace, S.R. 53, on a regular basis, you would agree that something needs to be done. S.R. 53 is scary as hell: big trucks, hairpin curves, slow-ass drivers, blind intersections, heavy traffic and steep grades in places. There is no other route for this, because S.R. 20 is jammed in places. I may have been against the Northern Arc where it currently was planned, but I am not against this. This is the culmination of several of my own project ideas into one, and I think this far north it will help more than it hurts for a long time.

      Face it, growth is coming...everybody and their brother is moving to Atlanta. If you to find a way to stop them further paving over my childhood haunts, then we will not have traffic problems. I'm tired of risking my life and spending an extra hour or two on S.R. 369, 53 or 20 every time I want to go east or west. I feel so exhausted after driving them, and at this point as long as its whole purpose is not JUST sprawl (like the original plan), then lets build it. *Steps off my soapbox LOL*.
      Reply to this
    • 8/13/2007 10:59 PM Anonymous wrote:
      Want to get traffic off GA 20 AND I-285. The old idea that used to sound crazy is starting to look better. --An elevated highway along GA 92 from I-85 to I-75. It is a 33 mile stretch.
      Even at $100,000,000 per mile it's less than the 4 billion being tossed around as the cost of a more northerly northern arc.
      Reply to this
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