Traffic In Atlanta

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Pages: 5

Many people who live in Atlanta battle daily traffic and a difficult commute. When people talk about life in Atlanta, they think of the many wonderful aspects of city life such as having parks, professional sporting events, festivals, many pockets of quaint neighborhoods, diversity, and multiple colleges. Most people also think of the dreaded word: traffic. Atlanta has one of the worst commutes of major cities in the United States, typically ranking in the top ten. Fortune Magazine ranked Atlanta at number 10 so far this year, stating the average commute time was just under 30 minutes (Huddleston 1). Despite traffic creating driver frustration and delays, “Atlanta’s traffic also costs the region $2 billion annually in lost time and excess fuel …show more content…
Accidents and stalls create 60% of congestion and delays on the highway. According to Monroe and Burns, “the patrol is one of the most understaffed in the South, with only 879 troopers statewide. South Carolina has 830 troopers and it is one-third Georgia's size. In the five-county metro area, the state has assigned only 60 troopers, who cover three shifts a day, seven days a week” (86). By adding more state troopers and ways to help clear traffic accidents and vehicle stalls, the congestion could be significantly reduced. In order to add more state troopers, the state needs more federal funding. After years of traffic accidents and fatalities, the Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety created the Georgia’s Traffic Enforcement Network. This network’s goal is to create a line of communication between different regions in the state of Georgia in hopes to make the roads in metro Atlanta and throughout the state much safer. The first network was created in 1997 and has been improved multiple times to attempt to make the Georgia roads safer, clear accidents quicker, and help reduce traffic during events throughout the city (Rich 1). An article in Georgia Trend discusses Atlanta traffic at length, noting that until the city receives more funding the traffic epidemic will continue. This particular article focuses on the …show more content…
One of these is a vehicle called the Porsche Cayenne that can drive itself. It is capable of operating without any human intervention. This vehicle “can stay in a lane, pass cars, merge into traffic, maneuver through a parking lot, and avoid obstacles” without input from a driver (Turner 1). While this option seems like a fantastic one, it will not decrease weight times or congestion on the highway itself. What it could potentially do is decrease stress on the driver. Another more futuristic approach is a magnetic levitation system that travels as a train one centimeter above its track. This train would have the capacity to travel at speeds up to 300 miles per hour and connect from downtown Atlanta to Chattanooga (Turner 1). This system would also require a significant amount of money to implement and potentially take time to have it built and begin running. Both of these long term solutions are expensive and still require further