Traffic

One assumption about traffic reporters is that all of us fly in a helicopter. In fact, most — almost all — do not. Smilin’ Mark McKay, Ashley Frasca, and I are the only airborne traffic reporters left in Atlanta. McKay is in the WSB Skycopter each morning drive and I take flight in the afternoons. Frasca has recently gotten the chance to fill in for us, as she gets the feel of both looking at traffic from above and arranging and leading the WSB Triple Team Traffic reports for the rest of the team on the ground. » RELATED: Gridlock Guy: WSB Triple Team Traffic App helps navigate commute But none of us has a pilot’s license. We have a rotation of pilots, led by our Monday-through-Thursday stalwart Bob Howdy, a former police officer who prefers that pseudonym. And we carry a videographer on each flight, Brett Barnhill, who has the responsibility of providing a feed that all four TV news stations in Atlanta use. This cross-pollination allows us to stay airborne, but this balance with the needs of TV stations also can influence where we fly. I recently got a question from a WSB listener and viewer about how we decide where to go. I had not explained that in a while, so I found it a worthy topic for this column. The pilot has the ultimate say in where we fly. If they have to avoid busy airspaces around airports or cannot lift off in bad weather, that is their call. Regardless of how bad the weather is, they always drive in and make that call from the hangar at DeKalb-Peachtree Airport. There are so many stimuli to consider as a pilot that we would have no way as reporters of doing that job simultaneously. We do traffic every six minutes and they carry in their hands life or death; we “let” the pilots fly. When TV stations have special video requests or if we find something that the other stations want, Barnhill has to check with his producer on the ground to make sure to stay at those scenes long enough. If, say, I am ready to move to another problem, we cannot go until Barnhill is cleared. Balancing the demands he receives with what we want for News 95.5/AM750 WSB makes both of our jobs harder, but the reward of flying is worth the pause. All else being equal — i.e., when we do not have to wait for TV — we are a traffic helicopter. And that is more than 90% of the time. So we simply fly up and down the interstates when there aren’t any big wrecks or news stories that alter our routes. We generally do not go south of I-20, because Hartsfield-Jackson’s airspace is so wide. We have to make such a wide route to fly to McDonough or Fairburn that going that way isn’t worth the time cost, unless there is a big problem. In this past week, however, we have flown to the south side multiple times for different traffic issues. » RELATED: Gridlock Guy: When traffic is stopped and you need to go We try to make our decisions to maximize our time flying over interstates, in hopes that we discover something new. Finding a crash that we didn’t already know about in the WSB 24-Hour Traffic Center “pays” for the whole two-hour ride in the Skycopter. We take the airborne advantage seriously and want to leverage it to help Atlanta commuters to the greatest extent. Earlier this month, we flew over a wreck during PM drive on I-85/northbound at Jimmy Carter Blvd. It took forever to clear, and the Traffic Team had a live ground shot of it on the WSB Jam Cam. But we stayed over it to get more detail and see the impact on surrounding roads. We noticed that commuters heavily underutilized Oakbrook Pkwy. as an alternate and started telling traffic to go there. Observing small details like that or something in a wreck that might make the clean-up last longer are the added value we can still give. And that is value that automated traffic apps still do not offer. Common sense is a great human trait. With technology becoming smarter and more superfluous, we tailor our flight paths differently. If we know that the Traffic Team has a good feel on a wreck without us flying over it, we don’t waste the fuel going there. We try to maximize our advantage. News helicopters generally fly a la carte to stories, whereas the WSB Skycopter flies for a couple of hours each morning and afternoon drive. Some days are very humdrum, but others see major problems. In a city with traffic jams like ours, WSB knows the importance of staying airborne in the Skycopter. In this time of automation, we have seen news organizations wave white flags for traffic reporting. They outsource it to bigger companies that assign one reporter to five stations and who just read crashes. We cover multiple stations in the WSB Traffic Center, but they are all local and we do it with the best tools and the most expertise in the city. We know your ride is important and we want the information you need to come at you constantly on radio, TV, online, on social media, and on the Triple Team Traffic Alerts App. The WSB Traffic Team is still on offense against Atlanta gridlock, and the WSB Skycopter is a huge weapon.  » RELATED: Gridlock Guy: Residential cost of GA-400 expansion illustration of bigger conundrum Doug Turnbull, the PM drive Skycopter anchor for Triple Team Traffic on News 95-5 FM and AM-750 WSB, is the Gridlock Guy. He also writes a traffic blog and hosts a podcast with Smilin’ Mark McKay on wsbradio.com. Contact him at Doug.Turnbull@coxinc.com.

Atlanta’s population is booming, as evidenced by, well, many things. The crowd swell keeps this weekly column topical, as more residents slowly commute locally and more freight uses Atlanta as the transportation hub that it is. Sandy Springs residents recently learned the cost of expanding the infrastructure to fit these demands. » RELATED: Hit the brakes on transit expansion? Gwinnett voters to decide GDOT announced two weeks ago the need for the land where 19 homes sit on Northgreen Drive, in order to expand GA-400 by two lanes in each direction. Northgreen sits just a football field-or-so to the west of GA-400, as it runs off of Spalding Drive. The optics of this look a bit worse for GDOT, as the addition to GA-400 will be Express Lanes - A.K.A. toll lanes. Those always are polarizing. 'We are entering the right of way-acquisition process,' GDOT spokesperson Natalie Dale explained on the March 4th 'The Mark Arum Show' on News 95.5/AM750 WSB. Dale said that this is different than and precedes eminent domain. In fact, Dale told Arum that both federal and state laws outline a specific process that GDOT must follow, before eminent domain even comes into play. “We are entering a negotiation with these property owners to negotiate a sale of their property.” Dale said that the government can exercise eminent domain only if the homeowners refuse the offers. “It is one of the harder things that we have to do; we don’t have to do it a lot. I can’t imagine what it would be like for someone to come to me and tell me they need my home. When we design these projects originally we look to avoid any circumstance like this. Beyond that, we look to mitigate it and then to minimize the impact, so if we only had to take part of the property, and then mitigate it if we have to take it all.” Dale said GDOT does not enjoy making these hard choices. “And I think that’s sort of a misconception — that this is something that we do without feeling and we just do.” In this case, Dale said it is absolutely necessary. “We want it to be part of an ongoing Express Lanes system in the metro area,” Dale explained. New such lanes along I-285, I-85, and GA-400 would be double and separate in each direction. They would not be reversible like the lanes along I-75 on both sides of town. The GA-400 lanes would go from I-285 to McFarland Pkwy. and the I-285 lanes would reside in all directions anywhere north of I-20. Construction for the GA-400 lanes will not begin until around 2021 and may not conclude until 2024. » RELATED: North metro Atlanta mayors propose east-west transit plan Dale and Arum discussed how the I-285/GA-400 corridor, an area already carved up for the new interchange GDOT is building, is chock full of both businesses and residences. “You have some pretty densely-populated residential communities that are set up alongside of the interstate — not a great scenario for avoiding trying to take property,” Dale said. This, again, brings up a real problem for the desirable living places in Atlanta. More people bring more traffic. More people galvanize a need for more housing. More traffic means a need for bigger roads. The construction of bigger roads sometimes interferes with said housing. And an increase in people brings the increased need for commercial areas. And so on and so on. As tastes and demands have changed, the “live, work, play” concept has made popular both condos and townhomes that are near both public transit and places to, well, do life. Compressing living spaces in convenient areas can free up more room for development and roads and decrease traffic. On Arum’s show, Dale quickly outlined GDOT’s Major Mobility Investment Program, a cadre of 11 projects statewide that aim to decrease traffic congestion by 5% by 2030. That’s a 5% decrease statewide, not just in those 11 zones, so the improvements are significant. But they come not only at a significant monetary cost, but possibly a residential one. Looking ahead, the idea of traditional, spread-out subdivisions in highly populated areas works against the efficient expansion of roads, highways and mass transit. Just as the car culture must change at least slightly, so must residential culture. This isn’t a call to action for all situations. But this notion is something to consider in both city-planning and life-planning moving forward in Metro Atlanta.  » RELATED: Federal budget deal allows Georgia DOT to catch up on road work Doug Turnbull, the PM drive Skycopter anchor for Triple Team Traffic on News 95-5 FM and AM-750 WSB, is the Gridlock Guy. He also writes a traffic blog and hosts a podcast with Smilin’ Mark McKay on wsbradio.com. Contact him at Doug.Turnbull@coxinc.com.

Don’t grab the smelling salts; you’ve dealt with this news before, Uptowners. Beginning Monday, Peachtree Street/Road just northwest of I-85 will see intermittent lane closures during daytime hours until as late as the early fall. Before turning beat red and stringing together four-letter words and gerunds about the dysfunctional government, consider the reasoning. These are not closures for hanging and painting big “PEACHTREE” letters and arches on the I-85 bridge, or fixing the sewer and then fixing the fix, or for an unauthorized crane that then broke, or for the construction of private buildings. Georgia Department of Transportation spokesperson Natalie Dale explained the project. » RELATED: Gridlock Guy: Innocuous turn could save a ton of time in Midtown “The focus of this project is a utility pole safety program,” Dale told News 95.5/AM750 WSB news director Chris Camp. Dale said the project is a phase in the Clear Roadside Program (CRP), where GDOT works with various utility companies to move utility poles farther back from the edges of the roads. “We look at corridors that have a high rate of drivers leaving the roadway and hitting these utility poles.” Both the public and private sector pick up the tab. “We look to fund a program that is 50% funded by the Georgia Department of Transportation and 50% by the utility companies, to move these poles away from the road ways and create a safer clear zone.” The premise is simple: GDOT and, in this case, Georgia Power identify places where poles are very close to the road. By moving back, say, a road of streetlights, drivers have a higher margin of error. “If you fell asleep or weren’t paying attention and ran off the road, you’d be able to correct back onto the road before you hit a pole,” Dale explained, noting that GDOT and Georgia Power have done this on Northside Drive at Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway in northwest Atlanta. Dale said that crews need one to two days to move a pole back far enough. Initially, this project will focus on Peachtree between Deering Road and Collier Road. A cursory look at Google Maps shows at least a few dozen utility poles in that half-mile stretch. For sure, the project will cause intermittent lane closures, but Dale said those closures could expand to a bigger stretch on Peachtree. The CRP will continue to meet to decide the sections of Peachtree — and elsewhere — that most need these pole push backs. » RELATED: Lanes reopen after I-285 sinkhole repaired on the Southside The hours of work are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Dale wants to remind drivers that these, “are not full lane closures, they are intermittent lane closures on certain sections.” And the contract for the work allows for the minimum pain inflicted on the midday commute. “It would only be on the north side or the south side at a time, so you’re not going to have lanes closed on the north and the southbound at the same time.” Officials are still finalizing some parts of the project, but Dale said that these pole shifts cannot happen overnight. “It is safest for the Georgia Power crews and for the general public for these closures to be done during the daylight hours.” Do not discount the cost of labor to pay people to work overnight, as well. The contract allows for the project to last until November, but builds in possible weather delays. Essentially, November is a worst-case scenario. “It’s not outside the realm of possibility that this may be finished much sooner,” Dale said. So as some of you prepare to stew and simmer over crawling traffic on Peachtree — as many of my co-workers (and I) will — Dale said to remember the main reason both GDOT and Georgia Power are beginning such an undertaking. “The end result is to create a safer atmosphere and possibly save someone’s life down the road and we think that is well worth it.” » RELATED: Georgia Legislature passes school bus safety bill Doug Turnbull, the PM drive Skycopter anchor for Triple Team Traffic on News 95-5 FM and AM-750 WSB, is the Gridlock Guy. He also writes a traffic blog and hosts a podcast with Smilin’ Mark McKay on wsbradio.com. Contact him at Doug.Turnbull@coxinc.com.

In this space two weeks ago and in AJC transportation writer David Wickert’s late January column, we agreed that MARTA’s reputation was at least partially on the line by how it operated during Super Bowl 53. Super Bowl week was a complicated one for Atlanta’s bus and rail service, but judging by the traffic flow and the positive reviews of Atlanta from out-of-town visitors, MARTA seems to have performed very well on the world’s stage. And this is despite several big obstacles along the way. » RELATED: MARTA was ready for its Super Bowl close-up The biggest problem MARTA faced was completely out of its control. A fire near the tracks close to the busy Brookhaven Station caused big service interruptions Saturday evening. But it wasn’t just one brush fire on another property that forced MARTA to set up a bus bridge between the Lenox, Brookhaven, Chamblee, and Doraville rail stops. “A Rail Supervisor had all trains use the track farthest away from the [initial] fire,” MARTA spokesperson Stephany Fisher told the AJC. So, the trains were still running at that point. “That Supervisor then reported a second fire, again, not on MARTA property, and ordered all rail service through that portion of the Gold Line suspended.” Firefighters ran out of water fighting the fires, which then caused the conflagrations to rekindle as they searched for another water source. Fisher said this caused the bus bridge to last an hour and five minutes, with seven northbound trains stopped at Lenox and their passengers sent to buses. MARTA was feeling the burden of not only its busiest travel day in decades — 270,000 riders, which MARTA said is more than double that of a normal Saturday — but also a shortage in bus drivers, some of which were still calling out sick in a union dispute. But MARTA was prepared for that also, Fisher said. “MARTA experienced delays on some bus routes because of the bus operator sick-out. Supervisors were pulled in to operate buses to minimize the impact to customers. We were not anticipating a significant increase in bus ridership surrounding the Super Bowl since the majority of our customers accessed the event venues on the rail system. The sick-out did not have an impact on rail service,” Fisher said, adding that operators from other Metro Atlanta bus systems provided buses and workers to help with last Saturday’s emergency bus bridge. » RELATED: Super Bowl 53 Wrap: How did Atlanta do? While people were upset by the delays, the whole thing could have gone much worse. If MARTA had not staffed up, the rail system would not have been able to handle the crowds even without an emergency. If the agency hadn’t collaborated with CobbLinc, Gwinnett Transit, and SRTA — as they are doing in a broader way with the new ATL transit system — then they wouldn’t have been able to quickly implement a plan to move those commuters to alternate routes. The Atlanta Streetcar, now run by MARTA, has often been lightly used. But Fisher said that was a different story last weekend: “The Streetcar saw heavy ridership the entire three-day Super Bowl weekend, with rail cars filled to capacity on almost every trip.” But it had its own difficulties. “On Saturday night, service was suspended when cars and overflow crowds turned away from Centennial Olympic Park filled the streets, making it impossible for the Streetcar to move safely through the downtown area,” Fisher said. We saw those hordes on the WSB Jam Cams all weekend along Marietta St. and Centennial Olympic Park Dr. Driving down there was nearly impossible; moving a streetcar through there would seem unreasonable as well. Fisher said that service resumed by 8 a.m. Sunday. MARTA actually saw significantly fewer riders on Super Bowl Sunday — an estimated 155,000 — than on Saturday. And Mass Exodus Monday saw 161,000 use the rail system. The security-line waits at the fully-staffed Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport saw many more delays than did MARTA. Atlanta traffic and transit endured a million visitors, double the amount of MARTA riders, tens of thousands more air travelers, a winter weather scare, a bus driver sick-out, a fire near the tracks, and several big game-related road closures. Locals either stayed away or rode the rails. Atlanta traffic was light, considering the large crowds in town. And MARTA game-planned enough to zig and zag with the problems. Atlanta gets at least a solid B, if not better, for how it handled travelers on Super Bowl week. And MARTA was a big part of that.  » RELATED: Opinion: MARTA: Playing hard outside M-B Stadium Doug Turnbull, the PM drive Skycopter anchor for Triple Team Traffic on News 95-5 FM and AM-750 WSB, is the Gridlock Guy. He also writes a traffic blog and hosts a podcast with Smilin’ Mark McKay on wsbradio.com. Contact him at Doug.Turnbull@coxinc.com.

The Super Bowl’s presence in Atlanta suggests road closures and bad traffic. But here we discuss a small open road — or a ramp, rather — that could help ease a big bottle neck on Peachtree Street in Midtown. As traffic engineers in Atlanta constantly explore ways to ease traffic without major capital expenditures and projects, one AJC reader has suggested going back to the past, to fix traffic for the future. » RELATED: Gridlock Guy: MARTA and your transportation keys to Super Bowl 53 Frank sent in a detailed email about one of the busiest stretches in town: Peachtree Street between the Buford-Spring Connector/I-85/northbound turn and Spring Street. I’m very familiar with this, as WSB Radio and TV’s studios are right there. And I have made the right turn off of Peachtree onto the Buford-Spring Connector/northbound ramp, just north of Spring, thousands of times. But I make that right turn easily off of Peachtree/northbound. Frank takes umbrage with a decision he says officials made over 20 years ago to allow Peachtree/southbound to also make left turns onto that very same ramp. He said that locals raised concerns at public forums about the traffic this would cause. Since Peachtree/southbound has to turn left across oncoming traffic, it backs up easily. That traffic needs a left turn signal, which then causes extra red light time on Peachtree/northbound. And then on full green lights with breaks in the traffic, drivers try to scoot across and beat the oncoming cars. That maneuver can lead to bad crashes. Eliminating left turns in busy areas is a goal in modern traffic engineering. This principle is what has driven the construction of Diverging Diamond Interchanges (DDI’s) at Ashford Dunwoody and I-285, Jimmy Carter at I-85, Pleasant Hill at I-85, Windy Hill at I-75, and Wade Green at I-75. One is currently under construction on Camp Creek at I-285. These interchanges put what once was left-turning traffic on the opposite side of the road, so when it turns left it does not have to impede or cross oncoming traffic. While these newer interchanges are confusing, they do save time and decrease crashes. Traffic planners routinely eliminate left hand turns on busy streets that do not have turn lanes. Some other Peachtree Street intersections in Midtown, south of Peachtree at Spring, do not allow left turns at all. Again, they back up traffic and can be dangerous.» RELATED: Georgia DOT opens up its playbook to keep Super Bowl traffic moving Frank’s opposition to the left turn makes sense, as that left turn lane on Peachtree/southbound at the BSC backs up and then slows the regular thru lanes during peak drive times. But I pushed back on Frank’s desire to eliminate that turn. Where would Peachtree/southbound traffic be able to access I-85? That traffic would have to either pick up GA-400 back in Buckhead, route around to Piedmont, head south and then route to West Peachtree, or drive all the way down to 10th Street, a mile-plus away. As bad as the backups are at the left turn, having to route that far away to find I-85 doesn’t seem efficient. But Frank pointed out an obscure turn that could eliminate the whole problem. Just south of the debated left turn, Peachtree/southbound actually can access the BSC. Just past Rhodes Castle, south of Spring, there is a small right hand-only turn that Peachtree commuters can take onto the Buford-Spring Connector/northbound. I have both covered traffic and worked at WSB for almost 15 years — I never knew about this turn. For one, I have never had to take that ramp, since the other one I normally take is much more convenient. There also is zero signage on Peachtree, telling drivers that it even exists. With so many people in the routine of taking the more common left turn, this small right turn just a block or so ahead gets very little attention. This less-traveled ramp actually merges with the traffic coming off of W. Peachtree and onto the BSC/northbound. The only inconvenience to the Peachtree/southbound drivers for choosing this ramp, instead of the left-hander, is that they would have to sit through the lights at Spring and at Rhodes Circle. I posed this revelation to the Georgia Department of Transportation and they are exploring it. More than likely, they aren’t going to eliminate that left turn. But maybe with some more signage and education, some of that backed up traffic can use this right turn and save themselves — and some others — a bit of time. Thanks, Frank!  » RELATED: SUPER BOWL TRAFFIC: Peachtree, other streets face closures on eve of big game Doug Turnbull, the PM drive Skycopter anchor for Triple Team Traffic on News 95-5 FM and AM-750 WSB, is the Gridlock Guy. He also writes a traffic blog and hosts a podcast with Smilin’ Mark McKay on wsbradio.com. Contact him at Doug.Turnbull@coxinc.com.