Mad Man Traffic

I’ve been reading with interest efforts to streamline the state Department of Transportation. Apparently it may involve an internecine feud between the executive and legislative branches of state government (must be taking a cue from Washington!). Governor Sonny Perdue appears to be trying to wrest control of the DoT from state lawmakers. He wants to replace their 13-member board, that the entire General Assembly elects, with an 11-member board the governor would appoint along with the Speaker of the House & the Lt.Governor. Now I’m all for streamlining the DoT. It needs it. Too many disparate agencies are involved in the decision-making process about what gets done which is why not much gets done or it takes so long. But I’m against a board appointed mainly by the governor. Atlanta has enough problems getting anything from a Governor from south Georgia. We haven’t been all that lucky either with a legislature dominated by downstaters. But at least we get to elect lawmakers in both houses every 2 years while the governor gets 4 years (limited to two terms.) But Sonny’s argument is it makes the agency more accountable to the citizens of Georgia because we could go directly to the governor’s office if there was something we didn’t like (like toll lanes). And we could show our disapproval when the election rolled back around. Once. Versus 4 times if control stays where it is. In the state legislature. Where we have more more control.

I was talking to a friend of mine Monday who works for the city of Roswell. I was trying to get some things clear about road closures after I got copies of some city notices about them. Hardscrabble Road (one of my favorite names) is closed until the end of the month so they can realign the intersection with Crabapple. He was telling me it’ll work much better because of the odd way Rucker Road comes in near there. Then we were talking about Hembree being closed at Foe Killer Creek and Old Roswell Road being closed over the creek so they can replace the bridges. Both projects taking at least the rest of the year. And there’s the rub. Turns out by closing down those 2 roads it leaves only one way to cross the creek. Highway-9. Alpharetta Highway. And it’s causing problems for rush hour commuters coming and going through Alpharetta and Roswell. Remember if there’s a big wreck on 400 Highway-9 can only handle, at best, 1 in 5 cars that come off the big road.

Meaning gridlock. Lots of it.

I’m not sure what happened here during the planning process but I wonder if these traffic considerations were, well, considered?!? If you live, work or play around there how will you get around? Let me know at art@madmantraffic.com and help me bridge the gap!