Comments on: DARTS

By: Samantha B.

Samantha B. — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:17:24 +0000

Ed, Atlanta is made up of a series of late 1800's-1920's intown neighborhoods centered around tiny, thriving commercial centers, and sprawling suburbs with mega-mart shopping centers. If you live and work in town, you pretty much never have to get on the interstate. Conversely, if you live and work in the suburbs you pretty much never have to get on the interstate. It's a matter of picking the right location. I live and work in Decatur which means I'm less than a mile from a good restaurant, pub, public school, coffee shop, etc. Downtown is less than 5 miles away and is accessible on surface streets. Location, location, location…

By: Emily

Emily — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:18:09 +0000

Oh Doug, I have! Ever tried to get down Canal St to the Holland Tunnel in the middle of the day?

Oh wait. Perhaps you are being as facetious as I was.

By: doug

doug — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 19:24:40 +0000

Yeah, Emily, I have never been in a traffic jam in the North!

By: Patton

Patton — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:20:07 +0000

As a native of Atlanta, welcome. Have fun with the interstate, particularly since they're doing construction on the Downtown Connector. As for the lack of urban planning, I think that's partly what you've identified (rampant, poorly restrained capitalism) and partly simple inability to coordinate. The Atlanta metro area, legally, includes 18 different counties. There is no real central forum where all 18 of them, or even just the central 4 (Fulton, Dekalb, Gwinnett and Cobb) could come together on these sorts of issues. Also, Gwinnett and Cobb have different politics (broadly speaking) from Fulton and Dekalb, so they don't agree on many things, like MARTA. There are (at least) 6 different public transit systems (including MARTA) for whatever reason. OTOH, we do have a really nice aquarium which I would recommend to you.

By: D.N. Nation

D.N. Nation — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 16:02:14 +0000

Two good-ish things about Atlanta's "urban planning":

1) New Yorkers get hopelessly lost trying to get anywhere. It's pinch-their-cheeks adorable.
2) It makes living near the city center mostly affordable. In the short term.

Bad things being, of course, everything else. Though, honestly, I've long since gotten used to it. Living off a MARTA stop helps a ton. It also helps to point out noobs who don't actually take local transit:

"Did I mention that the trains are horrendously uncoordinated and often stop on the tracks waiting for jams to be sorted out?"

Um, yeah, that pretty much never happens. I can recall two instances in this calendar year, and I ride MARTA every day.

By: SV

SV — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:51:14 +0000

Hello Ed,

How in the world do you know so much about LA and Southern California? For someone who appears to be from the midwest you seem to have an intimate knowledge of both LA county and the OC. I used to live in Pasadena for 4 years before realizing how craptacular the OC is, at least compared to East Coast Cities. Around LA, there at least 30 major highways (at least 3 lanes in each direction plus car pool lane) and every single one of them is packed at rush hour and sometimes in both directions. How is this even possible?

Regards,
SV

By: Daniel

Daniel — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:42:27 +0000

The Atlanta urban planners must have sucked at Sim City.

By: Emily

Emily — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:06:50 +0000

Welcome to the South. You'll get used to the traffic. Urban planning is for Yankees. We Southern folk like our cities inconveniently laid out and sparsely supplied with inadequate mass transit. Enjoy!

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 14:59:46 +0000

The next time you need to go down to Hartsfield-Jackson airport, just park at the Doraville Marta station and take the train. It can get a bit crowded during rush hour, but not as crowded as the freeways. Parking at longterm Marta stations is actually cheaper than at the airport.