This Blog Has Moved

Dear Reader,

This blog has moved to a new GoDaddy.com "Quick Blog" site I have created.

"The Georgia Road Geek" new blogsite URL is http://blog.georgiaroadgeek.com.

Thanks for your readership and please look for future blogs on the new blogsite.

New I-285 Page And Road News

I-285 Major Interchange Images Page

Dear reader, I have just taken the I-285 major interchange images I had captured from Google Earth and compiled them on a new webpage. Please click here to see them.

In other Georgia road news this week...

Red-Light Camera Ban Proposed

In this year's session of the Georgia General Assembly, there is a proposal (House Bill 77) to ban the red-light cameras. Please click here to read the bill from the Georgia House of Representatives.

To read more about it and how these cameras have been "cash cows" for those local governments currently utilizing them, please click here for the article from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

State Transportation Officials Want Tolls

Could there be more tolls in our future? If Georgia DOT officials have their way, then the answer is, "Yes." Please click here for the article from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

GA 400 Toll Violators Offered Reduced Fines

In an effort to collect from GA 400 toll violators, the State Road and Tollway Authority is offering a limited period of fine reduction to those who "jumped the toll" before January 1st. Please click here for the article from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Southside Steve's Driving Tips

On Atlanta country music station Eagle 106.7 FM's morning show, Southside Steve (formerly of 96 Rock) has been doing a "1000-part series" of his own brand of driving tips.

Some of those have included what type of coffee to drink for all-night trips (really nasty "leaded" stuff), how guys can handle their wives or girlfriends to make them keep from having to take too many "potty breaks" (co-host Dallas McCade was ready to kill him over it), and the stupid drivers he calls T.O.O.Ls. (Totally Out Of Line).

Speaking of T.O.O.Ls, I encountered yesterday morning who was driving really, really slow in the left lane of Clairmont Road between I-85 and Buford Highway. I'm no driving expert (just a "roadgeek"), but IIRC, the left lane is for passing, not "putt-putting"!!

His background music for his segment is Sammy Hagar's "I Can't Drive 55" (another one of my "roadgeek jukebox" songs) and you can usually hear this particular segment between 6:20 and 6:30 AM weekdays.

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

"ROADGEEK-CAM!!!" - GA 400 Tollway NB

This morning around 10 AM, Mary and I were heading home from the Emory area and took the GA 400 tollway on our way back home.

Since we had the camera with us, I took the opportunity to do something I hadn't done in a while... shoot some footage for a brand new episode of "ROADGEEK-CAM!!!".

I've just finished producing and uploading it. Please click here to view it.

Thanks in advance for watching and please come back again.

Aerial Road Photo - Georgia-Florida Pkwy

Recently, I downloaded and installed Google Earth and spent quite a while just virtually zooming all over the place.

Since I now have Google Earth, I decided to use it to capture some aerial road photos around the state (particularly major interchanges) and will eventually compile them onto a webpage.

While zooming in on Thomasville and Thomas County, I stumbled upon the intersection of US 19/GA 3/300 (Georgia-Florida Parkway) and Old Monticello Road (US 19's original route into downtown Thomasville). Here is the photo I captured...

What really intrigued me was the roundabout that exists at this particular intersection. Georgia has very few roundabouts, and what few that do exist tend to be around small town squares such as the one surrounding the old courthouse and gold museum in downtown Dahlonega.

The Georgia-Florida Parkway (GA 300) is a four-lane mostly-divided corridor that runs from I-75 (Exit 99) just south of Cordele to Albany, then joins US 19/GA 3 along the rest of its journey to Camilla, Thomasville, and the Florida state line. Once in Florida, US 19 becomes the Florida-Georgia Parkway as it makes it way south to US 27 in Capps. (Georgia counties traversed: Crisp, Worth, Dougherty, Mitchell, and Thomas).

In other Georgia road news, the Georgia DOT announced that 2 men have been arrested in connection with the graffiti sprayed on overhead signs along the Downtown Connector (I-75/85). Please click here to read the article from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

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

More Roadgeek Jukebox Plus Roadgeek Eats

Have you ever just gotten the urge to do something and felt you just had to get it out of your system?

Well, I put together another podcast (click on blog title to access it) talking about more "roadgeek jukebox" stuff, plus "roadgeek eats" to highlight a couple of our favorite places to eat while on the road.

One of those places is Cracker Barrel. Last Sunday after the storytelling festival in Kennesaw, Mary and I had dinner at the one on I-75 at Chastain Road (Exit 271). We've also eaten at their Morrow, GA (I-75 Exit 233), Brunswick, GA (I-95 Exit 36A), and Cleveland, TN (I-75 Exit 25), locations. They've opened a new one in Alpharetta just off US 19/GA 400 at Windward Parkway (Exit 11), and we plan to eat at that one as soon as we can.

My personal "guilty pleasure" is Georgia's own Waffle House. I'm not sure about other places, but here in the Atlanta area, there are stretches of road that have a Waffle House one mile (or less) away from each other. Am I complaining about that? Heck, no!!! They could build a whole mess of them next door to each other and I'd be extremely happy. :)

What are your favorite places to eat when you are on the road? Please e-mail them, plus your "roadgeek jukebox" favorites, to me at webmaster at georgiaroadgeek dot com. I'll even send you a "Georgia Road Geek" magnet (if you want one) as a token of my appreciation, plus give you a plug on both the podcast and the blog.

One more thing... if you look in the upper right-hand corner of this blogpage, you will notice a new section called "Steve's Shared Items", where I'll share some parts of my personal favorite blogs with y'all. The first "shared item" comes from fellow road enthusiast Adam Prince's "Sure, Why Not?" blog, featuring an Interstate 540 sign with the state name on it.

That's it for now. Thanks for reading and listening, and please do so often.

My Roadgeek Jukebox

On my first podcast, I started talking about some tunes that I would feature on a "roadgeek jukebox".

Here are some of the songs I would choose...

"Eastbound And Down" - Jerry Reed
"Little Pink Houses" - John Mellencamp
"The Breeze" - Lynyrd Skynyrd
"Prisoner of the Highway" - Ronnie Milsap
"Ramblin' Man" - The Allman Brothers Band
"Uneasy Rider" - Charlie Daniels Band

There are several others that I would include, but I'm a lot more interested in what you would have on yours. Please e-mail them to webmaster at georgiaroadgeek dot com and I'll give you a plug on the next blog and podcast... plus even mail you a "Georgia Road Geek" magnet if you want one.

Finally, as promised, here's a picture of one of the "oddball speed limit" signs I found last weekend at the Kennesaw State University Center...

This still begs the question "Why not just make it 15 MPH?" :)

That's all for now. Thanks for reading my blogs, watching "ROADGEEK-CAM!!!", and for listening to my new podcast. Please come back often.

Podcast Debut

Dear reader, I have decided to add podcasting to "The Georgia Road Geek". (Click on the above blog title to access the podcast.)

Please take some time to listen to my very first one and let me know what you think.

Thanks in advance for listening, thanks always for reading, and please visit often.