Cherokee County Doesn't Need a Toll Road, Try Again State Leaders

How long is your daily commute? Mine can vary from 1-1/2 hours from downtown to Towne Lake. How far do you have to drive every day? Are you one of the thousands of people who use I-575 and/or I-75 like me? What are our legislators doing to alleviate this congestion?

The state’s solution is build what’s known as HOT lanes. High occupancy/toll lanes are a road pricing scheme that gives motorists in single-occupant vehicles access to high-occupancy vehicle lanes. These lanes can be manned or unmanned in the collection of tolls and the costs of these tolls vary depending on the time of day and amount of congestion on the roadway. The goal of HOT lanes is to alleviate traffic. Do they really work?

The GA Department of Transportation (DOT) has announced big plans for HOT lanes to be built on all major arteries outside the perimeter with a large chunk of the budget spent on I-75/I-575. The plan is for a two-lane toll road (one going each way) stretching from inside I-285 to the I-75/I-575 split. Then there will be reversible lanes going north up each of these interstates. The one on 75 will go to Hickory Grove Road and the 575 one will go to Holly Springs. Drivers will pay a fee that will fluctuate from anywhere from a few cents to a dollar a mile, depending on the amount of congestion. The goal is to keep the toll road at a minimum of at least 45 miles per hour.

How much relief will we see? According to their own studies, the DOT reports minimal traffic relief. For those willing to pay the high fee, their ride will be great but it will offer little relief for those of us unwilling to succumb to another tax.

Regardless of which way you currently stand on this HOT lane construction, you need to hear how drivers have reacted to it in Gwinnett County. There’s a Facebook group called “Protesting the HOT Lane” that you need to take a look at in order to see commuters’ frustrations. What makes state officials think that this project on 75/575 will fare any better?

“State transportation officials have acknowledged it can be a challenge getting the community to buy in on the concept. However, toll lanes are the state’s principal plan for congestion relief in metro Atlanta. Area voters last year rejected a penny sales tax to fund transportation projects, and officials say there isn’t enough money being collected from gas taxes alone to widen the interstates without adding a toll.” (AJC  8/10/2013) In other words, because we voted down the T-SPLOST amendment, we are now “forcing” state officials to build these toll roads.

Let the research speak for itself. The projected amount of cars is expected to increase by 3000 people by 2035 according to the AJC (11/14/2013.) The addition of HOT lanes will ease traffic on the main highway by a mere one minute versus if no HOT lane were built. Is that one minute worth spending $840 million?

“Cherokee County Commission Chairman Buzz Ahrens said he has not heard any negative feedback about the project. He views it as an economic boon to the area and a way to alleviate traffic that has worsened with the opening earlier this month of a new, 90-store outlet mall at Exit 9 off I-575.

‘It’s all positive,” Ahrens said. “The only negative to it is that it’ll take a while to get done.’”

If you believe as I do that there are better, more cost-efficient ways to tackle our traffic congestion on I-575, then join with me on my new Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/notolls575!