I-575 and 2 More Counties Clinched!!!

This afternoon, my wife and I decided to get out of the house for a while and do some "roadgeeking" in the nearby North Georgia mountains.

As a result, I finally "clinched" I-575 and added both Pickens and Gilmer Counties to my county collection... WOO-HOO!!! :)

Here are some of the many photos I took during our 2-hour jaunt....

The first photo below is the last distance sign on I-575/GA 5 northbound, just 3 miles (5 km) before it turns into GA 5/515 (Zell Miller Mountain Parkway/Appalachian Developmental Highway "Corridor A")...

Interestingly enough, who other than roadgeeks or highway folks would know what "APD" stands for? IMHO, I would've substituted "GA Hwy 515" for "APD Hwy", since most folks know this particular road as "515".

The next photo is the exit for a scenic view located on GA 5/515 northbound just north of Jasper...

The next picture below is a view of GA 5/515 and the Appalachians looking south toward Jasper...

... and finally, here's a picture of me at the Zell Miller Mountain Parkway monument located at this particular scenic view.

Zell Miller, a native of Towns County, was a long time politician who served as Georgia's Lt. Governor, Governor, and finally as a U.S. Senator. During his time in Georgia politics, Miller was instrumental in getting the Appalachian Developmental Highway (GA 515) built, hence the road's name.

During the mid-1990's, then-Governor Miller briefly favored changing the Georgia state flag (removing the Confederate battle flag from it). In protest, some "pro-flag" person spray-painted the face on the monument black. If you look closely below the nose, you will see some of that black paint left. Miller, known by some as "Zig-Zag Zell", would later change his position in favor of keeping the flag "as-is".

On our way back home, we took 515 to GA 5 Bus/372 and cut through the Ball Ground and Free Home communties in Cherokee County.

A very special "thank you" to my loving wife Mary for her support of my "roadgeeking", and hopefully, we'll have a "roadgeek scrapbook" done one of these days. :)

That's all for now. Thanks for visiting and please come back again.

Buckhead Road and Pedestrian Improvements Coming

While surfing the Georgia DOT website last night, I came across one of their newest projects, the Peachtree Boulevard (Buckhead) Construcion Project.

The project, a part of the Governor's Fast Forward Program, involves the stretch of Peachtree Road (Georgia 141) in the City of Atlanta's upscale Buckhead community from Shadowlawn to Roxboro/Peachtree Dunwoody Roads. For a map of the general vicinity affected, please see the Map of Peachtree Blvd Project Vicinity (Yahoo! Maps)

In short, the project will not only involve road-improvements per-se, but also much-needed improvements to accomodate pedestrians, in addition to aesthetic landscape improvements such as trees and plants in the median.

To learn more about the Peachtree Boulevard Project, please click here.

In other Georgia road news...

The State Transportation Board and the State Road and Tollway Authority have adopted a joint resolution to study the feasibility of constructing Truck Only Toll lanes from the Port of Savannah to I-16 and I-95. The Federal Highway Administration has already given them a $472,000 grant for this particular study.

That's all for now. Thanks for visiting and please come back again.

Update - Overhead Sign on I-285 WB @ GA 400

Dear readers, thanks to Scott Kuznicki, we have an update regarding the overhead sign on I-285 westbound at GA 400, and apparently, the sign is stable... it's tilted slightly for better reflectivity. Please click here to read Scott's post on misc.transport.road.

Speaking of signs, it looks like the same contractor who posted the "Winward" signs posted yet another erroneous sign on GA 400 northbound at the 1/2-mile point to Windward Parkway. If I get a picture, then I'll post it for y'all ASAP.

That's all for now. Thanks for your visit and please come back again.

Here's Your Sign

Comedian Bill Engvall says that stupid people should have to wear signs saying “I’M STUPID!” so that everyone else can be forewarned.

Based on his “Here’s Your Sign” schtick, here are a few I’ve created just for fellow road enthusiasts…

NEW TRAFFIC SIGNAL

It’s the middle of June and a new traffic signal was installed and activated at the intersection of Main and Maple Streets.

You and your friend are driving down the road and he asks you, “Is that the new traffic signal?”, to which you reply, “Nope. Those are the city’s newest Christmas lights. Here’s your sign.”

ROAD WIDENING

A construction crew is doing work to widen the local crosstown expressway.

You and your friend are driving down the road and he asks you, “Are they widening the expressway?”, to which you reply, “Nope. They’re just a bunch of vandals doing damage to a perfectly good road. Here’s your sign.”

NEW HIGHWAY BEING BUILT

The transportation department is building a new 4-lane by-pass highway on the outskirts of town.

You and your friend walk over to observe what’s happening and he asks you, “Is that gonna be the new 4-lane?”, to which you reply, “Nope. The parks department is building the world’s longest football field. Here’s your sign.”

... and just one more for good measure...

TRAFFIC CAMERAS

New pole-mounted overhead cameras were mounted to help monitor traffic along the downtown expressway system.

You and your friend are driving down the road and he asks you, “Are those cameras up there?”, to which you reply, “Nope. They’re the new network of high-powered laser cannons the cops use to blast the bad guys as they travel down the road. Here's your sign.”

Hope y'all enjoyed them. Thanks for visiting and please come back again.

Ugly Signs In Fayette + I-285 WB Sign Follow-Up

Metro Atlanta's Peachtree City, a "planned city" located south of Atlanta in Fayette County, had complained to the Georgia DOT (GDOT) about some ugly yellow signs they put up. But there's some good news... I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance. :)

All kidding aside, please click here to read the original article from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

But the Georgia DOT realized that the contractor who installed the signs in question installed the wrong color, so they'll get fixed. Please click here for the article from WSB-TV's website.

As for the hanging overhead sign on I-285 westbound at GA 400, I am happy to announce that GDOT has been in touch with both Scott Kuznicki and me and it seems they are taking appropriate action. If we have any further developments, then we'll let y'all know.

That's all for now. Thanks for visiting and please come back again.

Hanging Overhead Sign - I-285 WB @ GA 400

Dear readers, there are signs with misspelled words... but then there are signs that are in precarious positions to cause potential harm to the public such as this one above I-285 westbound (outer) at GA 400. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEE!!!

This was caught on camera by fellow road enthusiast Scott Kuznicki on March 5, 2006.

In the interest of public safety, we have forwarded this picture to the Georgia DOT district engineer for Metro Atlanta, and hopefully, it will either have already been remedied or GDOT will do so ASAP.

We will keep you posted.

Thanks for visiting and please do so often.

Just Watched Our Smokey and the Bandit DVD

"Eastbound and down, loaded up 'n truckin. We gonna do what they say can't be done..."
"We got a long way to go and a short time to get there, I'm eastbound just watch ol' Bandit run." - Smokey and The Bandit theme song "Eastbound 'n Down" by Jerry Reed.

We just finished watching our "Smokey and the Bandit" (SATB) DVD and boy was it cool to see how some of our Georgia roads looked in the 1970's. :)

First of all, I need to make a correction regarding the movie's overall plot... the time to go from Atlanta to Texarkana and back with the truckload of Coors Beer was 28 hours... not 18.

Second, the freeway scenes on GA 400 were IMHO the most fascinating in terms of "roadgeek history"... especially where the Bandit was being chased by the Georgia State Patrol around and around the interchange (Exit 13 - GA 141). Ever since I was a teenager, I've loved trying to identify the places and roads in any movie that was shot on location in Georgia. :)

Finally, here's one of my favorite lines from Sheriff Buford T. Justice (the late Jackie Gleason).... "...I'M GONNA BARBECUE YOUR A** IN MOLASSES!!!"

If you have a favorite SATB scene or line, then please feel free to share it with us.

That's all for now, y'all. Thanks for visiting and we'll "catch you on the flip-flop".

Misspelled Signs on GA 400

Fellow road enthusiasts, hot off the digital camera are some new signs that the Georgia DOT had just installed on US 19/GA 400 during the latter part of this week.

Some of those new signs were for Exit 11 (Windward Parkway/Alpharetta)... but the contractor apparently did not run "spellcheck" before installing them. Here they are for your viewing pleasure...

... and here is a previously installed sign at the exit itself with the proper spelling...

All the above signs are on the southbound side. There is one more "sign goof" for Windward on the northbound side just past Exit 10 (GA 120/Old Milton Parkway/Alpharetta).

Remember, boys and girls, whenever you put up new signs, always be sure to run "spellcheck". :)

That's all for now. Thanks for visiting and please come back again.

2006 Official GA Maps Available

Fellow road enthusiasts, the 2006 official Georgia highway map is now available!!!

After work, I stopped by the Georgia DOT's map sales office in Chamblee and picked up a couple... and I couldn't wait to get home and look over it. :)

Here are some of the new things you'll find on the new map...

- US 129 is on a new 4-lane divided highway section between Talmo and Arcade, bypassing Jefferson. (This is apparently a non-GRIP widening project to provide 4-lanes between Athens and Gainesville.)

- All of US 441/GA 15 (GRIP Project EDS-441) 4-laned between I-85 and US 23/GA 365.

- Most of the Fall Line Freeway (Future GA 540) 4-laned between Columbus and Fort Valley (US 80/GA 22 from Columbus to Geneva, GA 96 from Geneva to Fort Valley).

And now, here are some of the things you will not find...

- Unlike past maps, no proposed or under-construction segments (700/800/900-series) are reflected. For instance, you will not see the proposed US 319/441 Dublin By-Pass (part of EDS-441). Unless you were a local or a roadgeek like me, you wouldn't know by looking at this year's map.

- US 27/GA 1 (GRIP Project EDS-27) is actually 4-lanes divided for a short stretch from just north of its intersection with GA 156 in Floyd County to just south of Gore-Subligna road in Chattooga County. This particular section of highway has been this way for at least 5 years, but I'm a little disappointed that GDOT has yet to reflect this on their maps.

Also, since the previous map, GDOT no longer differentiates multilane undivided highways (especially those with middle turn lanes), so it makes it even more difficult to determine which sections of GRIP corridors have been rebuilt as such.

Copies are available at Georgia welcome centers or you can contact GDOT's Map Sales office directly (click here for info).

That's all for now. Thanks for visiting and please come back again.

I Saw Alligators On GA 400

Yes, it's true, folks.... I saw me some alligators on GA 400... right there in the northbound lanes at Abernathy Road.

Now these weren't your garden variety alligators... no sir/no ma'am... they were big and mean and made of vulcanized rubber and steel. :)

I remember when I saw these "alligators" on I-75 in Florida and I said to my wife while I was driving, "Look... Alligators!!!". She said, "Huh?", and I said, "Yep.... thems be alligators."

Just before my wife, a Florida native, thought I'd totally flipped, I explained to her that these "alligators" were the huge shreds of tire tread littering the highway from blown-out tires.

Speaking of GA 400, the construction crews have the entire median torn up between Holcomb Bridge and Mansell Roads, plus the shoulders from Windward Parkway to McFarland Road.
(See the GA 400 construction videos from last week.)

In other Georgia road news....

Field Day For "Big Roads"

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution had an interesting article about the field day that "big roads" (contractors) are having here in Georgia with the GA 400 and I-85/GA 316 construction, not to mention the first approved public-private initiative for I-75/I-575 in Cobb and Cherokee Counties. Please click here to read the article.

Eisenhower Parkway Extension

In Macon (Bibb County), part of the overall Fall Line Freeway (Future GA 540) plan is an extension of Eisenhower Parkway (US 80) . Click here for a Georgia DOT handout from their last public hearing held February 7th. For overall info, please visit the Eisenhower Parkway Extension website.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading and please visit often.

Aussies Blog About Roads Too!

G'day, y'all!!!

This morning, while surfing the British SABRE site, I found a link to an Australian road blog called SEQRoads (SEQ stands for Southeast Queensland, the state located in Australia's northeastern corner.) Please click here to see for yourself.

Now this is not the first time I've ever seen road photos from "down under", but I am truly fascinated how the Australians have taken a combination of European and North American road sign and design styles and amalgamated them into something that is uniquely their own. To see a prime example of Brisbane's roads, here's a link to a photo site maintained by SEQRoads blogmaster Trent.

As for the Aussies themselves, the vast majority my wife and I have ever met (primarily through Toastmasters) are some of the nicest, warmest folks you will ever encounter anywhere in the world. At some point in our lives, we would love to visit Australia... and when we do, you bet we're gonna "roadgeek" it up. Furthermore, it is my personal dream to drive on Australia's roads just to get the feeling of left-hand side driving. :)

Kudos to their blogmaster on an excellent blog and wonderful road pics from "down under".

Thanks to y'all for reading ours. Take care and have a great weekend.

P.S. If you are from Australia and would like a free official "Georgia Road Geek" magnet, then please e-mail your postal address to georgiaroadgeek at bellsouth dot net.

Video Gallery Now Available

Dear Readers,

Thanks to the good folks at Putfile, we here at "The Georgia Road Geek" offer to you a media gallery of assorted homemade "roadgeek videos" for your viewing pleasure.

We run the gamut of the fairly serious to the really wacky.

Our first set includes the Talmadge Bridge videos, plus some GA 400 construction videos taken on March 7, 2006. Please click here to access them.

If you like it (or even if you don't like it), then please let us know by e-mailing georgiaroadgeek at bellsouth dot net. NOTE: If you don't like it, then please be gentle with us. :)

Thanks for visiting and please come back again.

I-75: A Superhighway On Steroids

A superhighway on steriods.... SAY WHAAAAAT?!!!!

If the Georgia DOT and the Georgia Transportation Partners consortium have their way, I-75 in Cobb County, at a whopping 23 lanes wide, will truly be a superhighway on steroids!!!

Furthermore, under the Northwest Corridor public-private initiative proposal, I-75 and I-575 would be "guinea pigs" for a little-tested concept of truck-only toll lanes, which, according to the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, the Georgia Motor Trucking Association is apparently wary of.

To read more about it, please click here for the article from the Atlanta-Journal Constitution.

Is this going to help us here in Metro Atlanta solve our traffic problems? I don't know... but I do know that our elected officials need to help us get a handle on the out-of-control growth that has exacerbated the entire traffic situation.

Am I "anti-roads"? No. Am I "pro-controlled development"? You betcha.

What can we do to get a handle on this out-of-control development? I don't have all the answers, but I do know that we need to let our elected officials know that they need to stop letting developers run amok and put some kind of reasonable controls on such things as new subdivisions and shopping malls. By doing so, it can help to guarantee the quality of life for both us and future generations, plus help Metro Atlanta remain a place where businesses want to set up shop. Again, I don't have all the answers, but we and our elected officials need to start somewhere.

That's all for now. Thanks for visiting and please come back again.

A Salute To Britain's Roadgeeks

Tonight, thanks to fellow road enthusiast Graham in London, I've discovered that there's a whole mess of roadgeeks in the United Kingdom.

We here at "The Georgia Road Geek" salute them from "across the pond" and present to you, dear reader, a link to SABRE (the Society for All British Road Enthusiasts). It's a great road site with some really cool UK road pics.

Please click here to see for yourself.

British roadgeeks, if you're visiting this blogsite, then please send us an e-mail (georgiaroadgeek at bellsouth dot net) and let us know you've visited. If you provide us with your postal address, we'll even send you an official "Georgia Road Geek" magnet as a token of our friendship and appreciation.

Whether you are from London, England, or London, Kentucky... Rome, Italy, or Rome, Georgia... we appreciate your visit and hope you will do so often.

Kudos to all our British SABRE roadgeek cousins for their excellence in "roadgeeking".

Until next time, cheerio from Georgia, y'all!!! :)

Talmadge Bridge Videos - 10/29/2005

Hot off the DVD from CVS, here are the videos of our roadgeek travels across the Talmadge Memorial Bridge in Savannah (video taken October 29, 2005, with a cheapo CVS handheld camcorder)...

- Going toward South Carolina
- Heading back to Georgia

A special thanks to my wife Mary for her assistance in filming while I was driving. :)

I hope to get some videos of the GA 400 construction. Once I do so, I'll share them with y'all ASAP.

Hope y'all enjoy, thanks for visiting, and please do so often.

DVDs, CBs, Movies, and GA 400

This afternoon, my Smokey and the Bandit DVDs arrived from Amazon.com. To celebrate this new arrival at "The Georgia Road Geek" world headquarters, here's a website with some "CB speak" for y'all.

For my wife, I got Disney's "Lady and the Tramp" (50th Anniversary Edition), and I think I scored some points with "The Mrs." on that one. :)

Also, I've used up the last 3 minutes of my CVS digital recorder, so tonight, I'll take it by my local CVS to get it developed.

The DVD has our trips back and forth across Savannah's Talmadge Memorial Bridge, plus some assorted home movies of our "four-legged children" (cats).

Today on GA 400, the construction crews have finally started grading out part of the median in the Holcomb Bridge Road vicinity after adding drainage pipes. Also, it looks like some new BGSes are going up in the vicinity of GA 120/Old Milton Parkway (Exit 10).

Hope y'all had a great weekend and thanks for stopping by again.

Until next time, keep 'er between the ditches, keep "Smokey" out of your britches, and we'll catch you on the "flip-flop".

GA City Makes Wacky Street Name List

This weekend, my wife found an article in USA Today about a recent online poll of America's "wildest, wackiest, and weirdest street names" and suggested that I blog about it.

Sponsored by Mitsubishi Motors, The Car Connection website conducted this poll.

Albany, GA, made the top 10 list with its intersection of Lonesome and Hardup Roads.

For the full article from USA Today, please click here.

A special thanks to my lovely wife for sharing this wonderful article with me and I hope y'all enjoy it as much as I did.

Thanks for visiting and please come back again.

You Can Drive 55

Over 20 years ago, singer Sammy Hagar released a highly controverisal (but really "kick-butt") song called "I Can't Drive 55". The video to this song was a pretty big hit on MTV (back when they were truly Music Television).

Well... according to four (4) Georgia college students, you can... and in an act of self-proclaimed "civil obedience", they got in their respective vehicles and together, they actually did literally drive 55 MPH on I-285.

But wait, folks, there's more... they even filmed themselves doing so and won a film award for their efforts. Please click here for their movie "A Meditation On The Speed Limit".

Naturally, they made several folks really angry and frustrated while doing so, but hey, like the late Andy Warhol said, they got their proverbial "15 minutes of fame".

Please click here to read the article from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Yes, Virginia. You can drive 55 on I-285. :)

Thanks for visiting and have a great weekend!!!

GA 400 Was A Movie Star

Last night as I pulled into the driveway, I was listening to one of Atlanta’s country stations.

They were playing the Jerry Reed song “East Bound And Down”, the theme to the 1977 Burt Reynolds movie “Smokey And The Bandit” (SATB), and it brought back memories of my childhood in Snellville.

The first time I saw the movie was at the old Snellville Cinema. I enjoyed the movie so much, I went back there to see it at least 1 or 2 more times. In fact, I give SATB credit for shaping my very early roadgeek existence. :)

For those of you who may not have seen the movie, here’s the premise…

An eccentric father/son pair of Texas millionaires named “Big Enos” and “Little Enos” make an outrageous big-money deal with an egotistical thrillseeker, “The Bandit” (Burt Reynolds), to pick up a tractor-trailer load of Coors Beer in Texarkana, Texas, and bring it back to Atlanta in an 18-hour round trip. (At the time, Coors Beer was not allowed in Georgia, thus it was roughly an equivalent to running moonshine.)

“The Bandit” talks his reluctant trucker friend Cletus “Snowman” Snow (Jerry Reed) into accompanying him in this insane quest. “Snowman” drives the tractor-trailer full of beer while “Bandit” runs interference miles ahead of him with his Pontiac Trans Am. Their primary means of communcation were their CB radios.

On the way back, “Bandit” unwittingly picks up a runaway bride, Carrie (Sally Field), who was to be married to the dimwitted son of Texarkana Sheriff Buford T. Justice (Jackie Gleason).

When the Sheriff learns that Carrie is with “The Bandit”, he and his dimwitted son “Junior” go on a cross-country pursuit of “The Bandit”.

The result was one of the craziest, wackiest cross-country car chases in movie history, plus a real-life surge in the sales of CB radios and Pontiac Trans-Ams.

I remember the fun we had traveling down to Florida with the new 23-channel Cobra CB rig my dad bought and installed in the family car (which was not a Trans-Am, but a 1972 Grand Prix which I would later have as my car during my college years). As a kid, it was pretty cool "spotting Smokies" (police) and "ratchet-jawing" (speaking) with other CBers. Eventually, as CBs became passe along with other 1970s fads like disco (I HATE DISCO!!!), I grew out of it.

The movie was filmed in various locations around metro Atlanta, including freeway scenes that were shot on the stretch of GA 400 between Alpharetta and Cumming. At the time SATB was filmed(1976-1977), GA 400 made a great filming location since it was sparsely used… quite a contrast to the huge traffic volumes it has due to the phenomenal growth of North Fulton and Forsyth Counties in the 1990s.

One particular scene was where a Georgia State Patrol car was chasing “The Bandit’s” Trans-Am around and around an interchange. The interchange was GA 141 (Exit 13).

This afternoon, I just ordered SATB from Amazon.com. This also includes the totally lame sequels SATB II and SATB III, but it was the only way I could get the first SATB :(

That's all for now. Thanks for your visit, keep 'er between the ditches, and we'll catch you on the "flip-flop", good buddy!!! :)