This entry was posted on 10/8/2011 8:48 AM and is filed under uncategorized.
Starting Monday, the fur really began to fly when I-85 congestion increased and drivers began to realize that the I-85 High-Occupancy Toll lanes were a "boondoggle" that would do nothing to relieve congestion.
Atlanta television stations set up cameras and shot plenty of video of empty HOT lanes alongside crowded "regular" lanes along this heavily traveled Interstate highway. Here is one of the segments from WSB-TV...
According to an article in Tollroads News, the I-85 HOT lanes "is by far the wildest start to any of the toll/HOT/managed/express lanes projects in the US so far" in comparison to HOT lanes implemented in other parts of the U.S.
Gena Evans, Ph.D., executive director of the Georgia State Road and Tollway Authority, responded to the outcry by saying, “Just add another person to your car pool,”. Reminds me of the time when Marie Antionette said that poor French peasants should just "eat cake".
Several Facebook users have created anti-Peach Pass/HOT Lane protest pages, including, but not limited to...
Governor Nathan Deal responded to the protest by ordering the HOT lane toll rates lowered and they were lowered from maximum of $5.50 for traveling all 16 miles (26 km) in the lanes to $3.05, a 44.5% decrease.
Since the lanes were federally funded with a stipulation that the lanes would be "HOV-3" instead of the "HOV-2" that they were as "free" lanes, Deal pledged to ask the Federal government for a "waiver" to allow "HOV-2" drivers to use the lanes free. Such a request, however, would likely be opposed by Federal officials, since it "could run afoul of a legal requirement that the HOT lanes flow at 45 mph (70 km/h) or better".
While I applaud Governor Deal for at least addressing our concerns, as opposed to Evans's "let them eat cake" response, I still believe that this $60,000,000 "boondoggle" needs to be squashed and that the lanes need to be restored to their prior status (free HOV-2).
If you wish to see the comments that several readers offered on my blog alone, please click here.
In the meantime, besides the plethora of anti-Peach Pass/HOT Facebook pages, you can also post your displeasure on the SRTA Facebook page as well. SRTA may delete your comments, but nonetheless, it's a great way to "rattle their cage", as my dad would say. Heck, you're welcome to post on (and "like") our own Facebook page, where we will not "censor" you solely on the grounds that you think the I-85 HOT lanes suck... and we think they do!!!
Well, folks, that's it for now. We at "The Georgia Road Geek" always appreciate your visits and comments and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with you in this fight against the I-85 HOT lanes. Have a great weekend and God bless you and yours.
Check out the "HOT Research Report," the report from a focus group marketing study. The report was released on the final day of the Bush admnistration (20 Jan. 2009). I can't even summarize it. You need to read it to see how poorly written it is, and to peel back the curtain a bit to see what's really going on. Clearly the HOT concept is supposed to be implemented throughout the Atlanta region, or at least that was the vision in 2009 when this boondoggle got funded. Reply to this
11/3/2011 6:27 PM
John wrote: This is hysterical. GA Tech, go figure... same place wher Dr. Evans was dating her intern student, Mike Spivey.
So where is the study by Jacobs Engineering and other State reports Gena? I guess young ga tech geeks know more.
"In fact, it could be even worse. An Atlanta Journal-Constitution review of hundreds of pages of documents associated with the project and interviews with outside experts shows the project is expected to increase traffic in the regular lanes in order to to keep the HOV toll lane flowing."
Copyright 2007. Steve Williams. All rights reserved.
DISCLAIMER: "The Georgia Road Geek" is neither affiliated with, nor endorsed by, the State of Georgia, Georgia Department of Transportation, or any other federal, state, or local government agency.
