Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: highway driving tips?

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Posted by Richard Hamilton (Member # 321) on 12-23-2009, 06:03 PM:

Any info about construction that will cause delays? I'll be driving from Indiana to florida via I-75. My main concern is Georgia/Atlanta as it is the longest part of the trip. I usually get stuck in construction traffic, and have had to wait hours to move about 1 mile. I've even had the luxury of walking around my car in the middle of the interstate and meeting other drivers who had as much "road rage" as me. Just wondering if anyone has recently driven this route so I can prepare.

Thanks,
Rick

Posted by Clint Koch (Member # 1179) on 12-23-2009, 06:27 PM:

Haven't driven it in a while yet I did hear that Mothra called Godzilla out and they are meeting down on I-75 to settle it once and for all! [Big Grin]

Seriously, drive safe and have a great holiday!

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 12-23-2009, 06:36 PM:

They have GPS units that recalculate routes based on traffic alerts if that helps.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 12-23-2009, 07:03 PM:

Major road construction projects on Interstate highways will last for years. So chances are good you'll be able to see the biggest projects along I-75 by looking at satellite images in Bing Maps and Google Earth. More than a few major US cities have traffic cameras that are accessible via the Internet.

I've seen "road geek" videos on YouTube where people drive certain routes through big cities and record the view on video. Those videos may provide some idea about big construction projects in progress. Many of those videos have dates mentioned on when they were taped.

My brother lives East of Atlanta, so I've heard a few stories about traffic and road projects there.

You'll probably want to use the I-285 loop and bypass west of the downtown area, but watch out on the south side of the loop near Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Airport. There's a big tunnel project in progress where I-285 is being buried under new airport runways. That's just a couple miles from the I-75/I-285 interchange on Atlanta's south side.

If the traffic is bad enough to cause hours of delays you might also consider bypassing Atlanta altogether. You might try staying on I-65 to Birmingham and then taking US-280 from there to Opelika, AL and Columbus, Georgia. Follow US-280 farther SE to Richland, but stay on the four lane "Corridor Z"/Georgia 520 highway through Albany and on farther East until the road hits I-75 in Tipton. GA-133 from Albany to Valdosta is a disputed "short cut" but I think it takes more time than just staying on the four lane highway to Tipton.

I lived in South Georgia back in the early 1990s, so I'm pretty familiar with the area.

Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 12-23-2009, 08:33 PM:

I drive from Louisville to Orlando 2-3 times a year.

I go to Lexington, Ky then straight southward through the middle of Atlanta. Avoid Atlanta (and Nashville) during any rush hour. That's why I go through Lexington, trying to avoid both of these in the same day is impossible.

No construction lately of any major consequence. Louis

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-23-2009, 08:59 PM:

quote: Bobby Henderson
Major road construction projects on Interstate highways will last for years. So chances are good you'll be able to see the biggest projects along I-75 by looking at satellite images in Bing Maps and Google Earth.

That's true, but how often are those images updated? My mom-in-law's house has been built for 4 years now and it still doesn't show up on Google Earth images.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 12-23-2009, 09:05 PM:

I hate giving kudos to a Microsoft-operated venture, but I think their Bing Maps satellite imagery is updated quite a bit more often than the imagery in Google Earth. The "bird's eye view" aerial images also seem to be updated more often.

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 12-23-2009, 09:16 PM:

Be careful, Rick! Have a good holiday. [Smile]

Posted by Michael Voiland (Member # 5386) on 12-24-2009, 02:40 AM:

i know we are in the opposite direction but stay out of Illinois the yearly moving of the interstate / highways / tollways 3 inches to accommodate the budget spending requirements takes it toll on everyone.

Posted by Oscar Neundorfer (Member # 458) on 12-24-2009, 06:46 AM:

If you do not want to see downtown Atlanta, take I-285 east as you approach Atlanta on I-75, follow I-285 until you get to I-675, and then take I-675 south until it joins back in to I-75. Mapquest it and you will see what I mean.

Do watch your speed on I-285 on the east side through DeKalb County. They raise a lot of revenue there. You will be tempted because the flow of traffic usually runs pretty fast. Speed limit is 55 unless it changed recently.

Bobby, the tunnel project on I-285 at the airport was completed a long time ago. One of the new runways goes right over I-285. The tunnels rise above I-285, kind of like a long enclosed bridge with a runway going over the top side of the bridge.

Safe travels to you.

Posted by Sean McKinnon (Member # 612) on 12-29-2009, 10:55 AM:

I recently moved to NY state from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and have never seen so much pointless delays and back-ups caused by road construction. I don't know what the deal is! In Mass I guess they did a lot of work at night and it seems here in NY state they do it during the day during rush hour. Also it always seems traffic will be dead stopped for 5 miles then when you finally get up to the work site there is NOTHING going on. Drives me nuts! I have to communte 4 hours a day to and from work so every extra minute spent at a pointless back up is infuriating! Any one know why NY sucks so bad at road construction?

Posted by Mitchell Dvoskin (Member # 751) on 12-29-2009, 11:55 AM:

It is well known that New York has only 2 seasons, Winter and Construction.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 12-29-2009, 12:03 PM:

Sean--I think that part of the difference is that NY actually maintains its roads. The roads and bridges in Mass. are generally in pretty horrid condition.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 12-29-2009, 12:37 PM:

quote: Scott Norwood
The roads and bridges in Mass. are generally in pretty horrid condition.

Who's in charge of the State Highway Dept? Are they broke, or can't spend money?

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 12-29-2009, 05:11 PM:

I believe that it is a combination of lack of money and general mismanagement that makes everything cost several times what it should, with the result that needed maintenance does not get done.

Recently, though, there seems to be some progress, at least on some of the bridges that are most badly in need of repairs.

Posted by Jonathan Althaus (Member # 5042) on 12-29-2009, 05:46 PM:

More snow in Dallas today, all the shitty drivers have come out again.

Posted by Sean McKinnon (Member # 612) on 12-30-2009, 11:58 AM:

You are right about that Scott... At this point though I almost feel like id rather have worse roads and less construction traffic! [Mad]

Posted by Richard Hamilton (Member # 321) on 12-30-2009, 12:11 PM:

quote: Jonathan Althaus
More snow in Dallas today

Stay off the interstates, especially if theres any construction. [Big Grin]

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 12-30-2009, 12:17 PM:

quote:
Also it always seems traffic will be dead stopped for 5 miles then when you finally get up to the work site there is NOTHING going on. Drives me nuts!

It's a kind of "reverse propagation" effect.

One person suddenly stops, slows down, swerves or does something else unexpected which causes all the cars in close proximity to stop, slow down or swerve to avoid the first car. Then all the cars, in sequence, behind them will have to take action in response to the cars ahead.

On a busy stretch of highway, especially during rush traffic, you get a reverse propagating wave of slowed or stopped cars which can stretch for miles behind the original incident.

The reason why there appears to be no cause for this is because, by the time you have stopped, waited for traffic to clear and started moving again, all the cars responsible for the tie-up in the first place are long gone.

If people would remember that, during high traffic times, it is important to keep moving in a steady, predictable manner these "phantom traffic jams" would not occur.

Try to keep moving at the prevailing speed of traffic but, if you can't or don't want to go that fast, get into the slow lane on the right so that others can go around. If you know you are going to have to exit the freeway soon you should get into the exit lane as soon as is reasonably possible so that you don't have to cut in front of other cars at the last second. If you see an accident or come upon a construction site, try to change lanes or take evasive action as early as possible so that you don't have to make an abrupt change in your speed or direction at the last second.

The key to avoiding "phantom traffic jams" is to keep all traffic moving at similar speed in predictable directions. Unfortunately, most people don't even know what "phantom traffic jams" are, much less how to avoid them.

There is a section of I-81 between Bristol, TN and Knoxville, TN that is famous for "phantom jams."

http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=35.814717,-83.47047&z=8&t=h&hl=en

People in that area regularly drive in excess of 80 MPH but they don't seem to take into account for the fact that I-81 branches off into I-40 and TN-321 somewhere around Jefferson City. So you'll get these idiots in rusty Ford pickup trucks, confederate flags, shotgun racks and all, flying down the highway in excess of Mach-I who will suddenly "dive" for the exit ramp at the last second, causing traffic tie-ups that stretch for 5 miles or more.

I spent a lot of time driving that stretch of road. When I was working for Cinemark, my two WORST theaters were in Bristol (#277) and Knoxville. (#246) There were times when I spent half my time driving back and forth between those two theaters. I would fix up one theater and head toward the other and, literally an hour later I'd get a call telling me that they had broken something else. I'd have to turn around and go back.

Those two theaters and the shitty driving between the two of them are one of the prime reasons I quit the job!

Posted by Martin McCaffery (Member # 37) on 12-30-2009, 12:35 PM:

Just drove back to Montgomery from DC I-95 to I 85. I usually take the US Hwy system for the scenery, but was in a hurry this year.

Always avoid the DC area, the traffic always sucks.

The worse traffic outside of DC, surprisingly, was in SC. Several "phantom" roadblocks. I'm pretty sure one of the longer delays was that 85 at the hour and direction I was on it points directly into the sun so you are driving totally blind and everyone slows down and leaves lots of room.

Doesn't explain the delay in the other direction.

85 was also awful from Salisbury to Charlotte. I just got off and too US 29

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 12-30-2009, 12:47 PM:

I had theaters on both those towns. Salisbury, NC (#243) and one near Charlotte, NC in Matthews. (#211)

When there was no construction in that stretch, traffic wasn't so bad. Once you get near the NC/SC state line it could get hairy, especially at rush hour.

Posted by Richard Hamilton (Member # 321) on 12-30-2009, 01:52 PM:

I had one experience where traffic just came to a sudden stop. After about 15 minutes, i shut off my car because we weren't moving and I had less than a half tank of gas. Every so often, a car would do a u-turn through the median, or a car would fly by on the shoulder of the road. I just reclined my seat and put in a good CD. After about an hour, traffic inched forward about 15 feet. Traffic wasn't moving, the space in front of me opened because someone way up front did a uturn.I wasn't going to start my car to advance 1 car length. The driver behind me decided to drive on the shoulder and cut in front of me. I did an immediate "what the fuck?" and started to get out, but my wife grabbed my shoulder and said it wasnt worth it, probably the only smart thing she ever said. We ended up stuck there for about 3 hours. When we finally started moving we got to the crash site which was in the opposite lanes, motorcycle wreck, yellow police tape, ambulances, firetrucks, but all in the opposite direction. Not sure why our lanes were shut down?

Posted by Martin McCaffery (Member # 37) on 12-30-2009, 04:44 PM:

Had a similar thing happen outside of Auburn, AL about a year ago. Traffic was shut down in both directions because it the closest access to the interstate was from the on ramp on the side of the highway opposite the accident.

Posted by Pravin Ratnam (Member # 1417) on 12-30-2009, 11:04 PM:

Just go through I-75 all the way unless you are traveling during rush hour. If you drive 14 above the speed limit, you are in no danger of getting ticketed. And you will probably have some guy like me going 80-90 anyway. So all you have to do is go slower than that person and stick to the right lane. There are more cops as you cross the 285 intersection. You will not see many speed traps once you cross Northside Drive until you get close to the southside of 285.

Also, I would take the 285-W loop instead of the 285-E loop if you want to avoid downtown even if you want to end up on I-75 because the I-85/285 junction is usually bad traffic.