Bright spots in I-85 bridge collapse: Several commutes have improved

For all the doom and gloom the month-old Interstate 85 bridge collapse has galvanized, there are some bright spots gleaming through the settling dust. GDOT’s crew is ahead of schedule in the rebuild and may have the bridge done by mid-May. Displaced drivers are taking public transportation and MARTA has successfully stymied the parking scarcity that prevailed until last week. And companies have been forced to explore creative options for employees to work different hours or telework.

Believe it or not, a few commutes have actually improved as well.

The biggest, starkest commute improvement has been on the Downtown Connector (I-75/85). This is usually an interstate from hell — busy most hours of the day and horrendous during rush hours. But in the last month, the I-75/85/northbound delays have been almost non-existent in morning drive, since many of those commuters went through town and up I-85 and cannot take that route right now. In the afternoons, I-75/85/southbound is bad between 17th Street and Interstate 20, but not nearly as bad as it was pre-collapse. Much of the displaced traffic from the Connector is taking Interstate 285 and making the Perimeter 30 percent to 50 percent worse.

Another commute that has evaporated is the afternoon I-85/northbound ride through DeKalb and Gwinnett counties. A trip that used to begin slowing at Shallowford Road now doesn’t get heavy until after I-285. Even then, barring wrecks, I-85/northbound has not been very heavy through Gwinnett. Part of that reason is because I-285 is so bad, it seems to filter the traffic getting to I-85. The I-285 jams have also had the same effect on I-75/northbound and GA-400/northbound into the northern suburbs.

The tradeoff here has been that the I-285 delays have jammed the right lanes inbound from the northern suburbs in evening drive. I-85/southbound’s two right lanes are dead-stopped between Jimmy Carter Boulevard and I-285 each afternoon drive. This right lane stoppage also hurts the morning commute on these roads. But, overall, the outbound rides on I-75, GA-400, and I-85 are much better every PM drive.

The bottleneck of traffic on Ponce de Leon Avenue/Scott Boulevard has held that traffic back and made the Highway 78/Stone Mountain Freeway ride much better outside I-285 in afternoon drive. Highway 78 normally isn’t awful, but it definitely has gotten better between Tucker and Stone Mountain, since the I-85 collapse.

With the exception of I-75/85/ northbound in the mornings, the I-85 bridge rebuild has improved the afternoon drive and not the mornings in the aforementioned areas for logical reasons. The closure hinders traffic leaving town and getting to the thoroughfares to the suburbs. The differences in AM drive are less drastic, since the closure is inside I-285 and all the traffic has to get there first, before it can detour.

Our next big challenge will be trying to gauge how traffic re-adjusts, once I-85 re-opens. Will some people continue to use MARTA or telework? Will some decide that they prefer the gridlock on I-285 than that of I-75/85? One thing we know for sure is that the rides on the Buford-Spring Connector, Peachtree, Piedmont, and other roads around the bridge rebuild will get much, much better. That cannot happen soon enough.

Second Avondale Estates commissioner won’t run

After one four-year term as an Avondale Estates commissioner, Randy Beebe won’t seek re-election in November. Terry Giager, the only other commissioner up for re-election this year, has already announced he’s also stepping down at year’s end.

Beebe, 65, is one of the city’s most colorful commissioners in recent memory. For instance, when emphasizing patience, he’ll say, “The best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.”

At age 52 he retired from AT&T and took 2½ years crisscrossing the country twice in his motor home and with his beloved coonhound, Maggie. Ten years ago he settled in Avondale, eventually running for commissioner on, not surprisingly, a pro-dog-park ballot.

Just recently he bought a 1929 Model A Roadster, a car only one year younger than Avondale itself.

He hasn’t ruled out running for higher office, perhaps on the county or state level. For now his goal is that before his term ends the city has a “concrete plan” worked out with Avila Real Estate, which owns 13 prime acres north of downtown Avondale.

Dacula mayor, council seats up for election

Dacula will hold a general municipal election Tuesday, Nov. 7, to fill the position of mayor, held by Jimmy Wilbanks, and two City Council seats held by Wendell Holcombe and Donna Peairs.

Municipal qualifying begins Monday, Aug. 21, at Dacula City Hall, 442 Harbins Road. Qualifying fees are $189 for mayor and $153 for a council seat.

To vote in this election, you must register to vote with the state of Georgia by Oct. 17, and you must be a citizen of the United States, a legal resident of Georgia, at least 18 years old, not serving a sentence for conviction of a felony involving moral turpitude, and not found mentally incompetent by a judge.

Voter registration is available at City Hall, public library branches and the Gwinnett County Elections Office at 455 Grayson Highway, Suite 200, in Lawrenceville.