Atlanta At-large City Councilwoman Mary Norwood unveiled Aug. 21a list of Atlanta’s Top 10 worst bottleneck intersections and half of the ones listed are in Buckhead.
Buckhead’s nightmare intersections include: Collier at Howell Mill; Collier at Peachtree Road; Habersham Road at West Paces Ferry Road; Piedmont Road at Peachtree Road and Piedmont/Roswell at Habersham/Piedmont/Old Ivy.
The traffic nightmares elsewhere in Atlanta include: Briarcliff at Ponce de Leon; Cascade Road at I-285; Howell Mill at Chattahoochee; Marietta/ Bolton, at Atlanta Road; and Monroe at Piedmont Avenue.
Atlanta’s Worst Top 10 was compiled through a survey of 1,000 respondents which Norwood had conducted.
Norwood said she included the question in the survey because traffic is one of the top issues affecting the quality of life of residents of Atlanta. It affects everyone in the city, every single day.
“Traffic congestions on our surface streets and at many poorly designed intersections—particularly at the height of the morning, midday and afternoon commutes—can cost residents, businesses, and the city millions in lost productivity alone,” Norwood said.
Congestion and bottlenecks also slow down police officers, firefighters, and emergency personnel who must respond to crime, accidents, fires or transport sick or injured people to hospitals.
While congestion at some intersections can be relieved through the installation of additional turn lanes and traffic signals, through the installation of automated traffic surveillance control systems and through the synchronization of traffic lights; other intersections should be resigned to handle additional traffic, according to those responding to the survey.
The redesign of some city intersections would require a solid commitment of city, state and federal funds, Norwood said.
“For years we have stood by as daily traffic on Atlanta’s surface streets has increased with no clear and comprehensive plan to solve this growing problem. This is also an infrastructure problem that must be addressed today rather than later,” she said.
“I encourage my colleagues on the City Council and the administration to join me in unclogging Atlanta’s Top 10 Worst Bottleneck Intersections,” Norwood said. “Our city’s continued growth and quality of life depends on us managing our surface road traffic, particularly at busy intersections, more intelligently than we are doing today.”
–John Schaffner