Feds deny request to waive three-person car pool rule
From the Associated Press this morning:
Federal authorities have denied Georgia’s request for a waiver to allow two-person carpools in a new toll system on a metro Atlanta freeway.
The state had requested the waiver after repeated traffic backups in the new toll lanes on Interstate 85 in parts of Gwinnett and DeKalb counties.
CBS Atlanta reports that U.S. Department of Transportation officials said they believe it’s too early to evaluate the effectiveness of the so-called HOT lanes. In a letter denying the request, federal authorities also said the toll rates and motorists not being familiar with the lanes may be contributing to their low use.
The waiver would have allowed more drivers to use the new lanes for free.
Without the waiver, vehicles must have three or more people to use them for free.
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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179 comments Add your comment
liberalefty
November 22nd, 2011
11:47 am
heres a solution. dont drive.see how simple that was?
John D
November 22nd, 2011
11:53 am
This nothing but extortion!
liberalefty
November 22nd, 2011
11:54 am
to bad the republican leaders are too racist to adequately fund MARTA. in other word traffic will get worse and worse
John D
November 22nd, 2011
11:54 am
liberalefty – you sound ignorant. Might as well say. If we all just died we wouldn’t have to worry about any of the worlds problems period!
Harvey D. Pooka
November 22nd, 2011
11:54 am
Well, you folks (G-DOT and whatever legislatures voted for it) got what you wanted….. so, deal with it. ***”Delaing with it” will be extended to being voted out of office the first chance we get.
Cap Pistol
November 22nd, 2011
11:55 am
Anyone driving a Mercedes should be welcome to drive in the HOT lane, anytime, free. The next MARTA extension should be off a cliff. It sux. Always has. Always will.
J W
November 22nd, 2011
11:57 am
Hey, G-DOT. Has it sunk in yet that this fiasco was a STUPID idea?!
Don
November 22nd, 2011
11:58 am
@mountain man at 10:09
Wash DC and Atlanta started building their heavy rail transit at the same time. Neither city was “set up for it” at the time. The difference is that DC kept going while Atlanta stopped building. Now, DC has developed around transit while Atlanta is stuck in the past.
It could be worse, however. Atlanta would be “Detroit South” if they hadn’t build MARTA.
Another Blunder
November 22nd, 2011
11:58 am
The only folks to benefit from this mess is the sign company that was overpaid for the new signage.
honested
November 22nd, 2011
12:00 pm
How many generations will pass before sonny perdue’s gag gifts stop gagging GA?
Don
November 22nd, 2011
12:01 pm
@RM at 10:07
We don’t get to “pay for the lane again”. It’s worst than that. Just operating all the scanners and cameras will cost more than the toll revenue coming in. The original estimate was that it would cost $1M over the toll revenue. Even worse, that $100+M to install all that junk isn’t covered by the tolls, either.
liberalefty
November 22nd, 2011
12:04 pm
good ole state guvment at its incompetent best.
Woody
November 22nd, 2011
12:05 pm
uh, I don’t think you can lay this on at the doorstep of the federal government. All they did was pay for building it, with some stipulations that were open for everyone to see. State government, however… overwhelmingly Republican… doctrinaire privatizers… want privatization? this is what it looks like, folks…
Don
November 22nd, 2011
12:09 pm
@ zeke at 10:37
What authority does the Fed gov’t have over GA roads? I guess it has something to do with having paid 90% of the construction costs? They are “Interstate” highways….
Elliot Garcia
November 22nd, 2011
12:09 pm
Why are you so cheap? Just pay the money and use the lane! enough whining already….
Don
November 22nd, 2011
12:13 pm
@ JW at 11:57
I don’t think GDOT cares. They got to spend $100+M of Fed money on the project. Doing projects is fun for GDOT – it’s what they like to do.
We can turn off all that HOT silliness. All we have to do is repay the $100+M to the Feds. But, that would mean fewer new projects for GDOT, so why would they do that?
liberalefty
November 22nd, 2011
12:17 pm
wow man
liberalefty
November 22nd, 2011
12:19 pm
i drive an ole mule.
Gwinnett Was Great
November 22nd, 2011
12:22 pm
I heard Obama colluded with all his Kenyan brothers and sisters in bring this mess to the Great State Of Georgia. We should keep electing the wise Republican Leaders of this state so they can fix our transportation issues with more highways.
Butch Cassidy
November 22nd, 2011
12:23 pm
Geez, what’s with all this “lane envy”? All you whiners, pull yourselves up by your bootstraps and take responsibility for your poor choces. Stop hating on the successful drivers who worked hard to get to use the HOT lanes. Besides, we can’t have the “job creators” stuck in traffic. Every minute they lose, is nother job lost! (sarcasm strongly intended).
justsaying
November 22nd, 2011
12:32 pm
Lets stop trying this crap and building new lanes that instantly clog and build true transit, light or heavy rail. Why do we insist on going backwards with this much commerce at stake? Get all these old stubborn stalwarts out of office and put in the newer thinking that will get it done, now. No more planning committees to plan more planning committees…get to building. Good grief, this is embarrassing on an international level
Charles
November 22nd, 2011
12:35 pm
WGA
Each day, thousands of vactioners travel through this area not knowing about the electronic device being required. So last year those same families with SUV’s and cars full of their kids going and coming from Disney World now jam the remaining lanes. They either do not know about the device or do not want to pay for one for vacation time travel.
+++++++
I had this same conversation with a friend while riding in the not-hot lane along I-85 this past weekend. To be honest, I think that unless you live in the metro ATL you have no clue about this lane and the signage doesn’t help at all. Unless you’re from the area how in the heck are you supposed to know what Peach Pass even means? It sounds like a name for the lane, not something you have to have on your friggin car in order to drive in the lane. By the way, as I was driving in steady but slow traffic I noticed that the HOT lane wasn’t going much faster. Found out that regardless of whether or not you pay, if a vehicle breaks down in the lane you still aren’t going anywhere fast. There was a disabled vehicle at one point and a fender bender a few miles up the road.
Rock Gaines
November 22nd, 2011
12:51 pm
Hey! Why were my comments pulled? I kept it clean. All I did was give folks ideas on how to handle the HOT situation.
commoncents
November 22nd, 2011
1:10 pm
Before the HOT lanes, I only remember seeing about 10% of the HOV lane users as being 2+ carpool vehicles. The rest were idiots swerving in and out of the lane like it was a passing lane, and not using the lane as intended. I guess the real drop in usage is from having an effective way to keep law breakers out.
Aside from that, I like the HOT lane. I don’t use it, but at least if I actually needed to get somewhere in a hurry it’s almost a guarantee that I could. Nothing is worse than sitting in traffic when you actually need to be somewhere else.
Have a problem with the HOT lane and the length of your commute? Don’t live somewhere so that it takes 45 minutes to get to work WITHOUT traffic, and then be upset that 500,000 other working people did the same thing. If you want the big yard and nicer house in the suburbs, be prepared to deal with the consequences. Otherwise, there are plenty of condos, townhomes and apartments with much shorter commutes
confused
November 22nd, 2011
1:13 pm
Maybe this is just so unthinkable that it shouldn’t even be mentioned, but have any of you I-85 commuters considered trying to create a 3-person carpool? You get to ride in the fast lane for free, you don’t have to drive every day, you save gas/car maintenance/the environment, and maybe even make some friends. No?
Sally Mc
November 22nd, 2011
1:19 pm
Most people in Gwinnett have less than 2 friends, so they are unable to make a 3 person carpool.
Dod
November 22nd, 2011
1:30 pm
The GDOT has proven its incompetence and corruption time and time again, and this project takes the cake. Its a wallet padding project full of corruption, from patent filings to forcing congestion to get people to may a tax. And they want me to vote for T-SPOST – NO WAY IN HELL!
These people have shown over and over again that they’re good at only one thing- stealing ideas from other cities (red lights at on ramps, HOT lanes) and applying them here, where they don’t work. If I could get anything near what I paid for my house I would take my PhD and the jobs it creates somewhere else- the brain drain is on Atlanta!
Base
November 22nd, 2011
1:35 pm
Quite whining and learn to live with it !
FUGDOT
November 22nd, 2011
1:39 pm
I love all the MARTA talk here. Wake up Atlanta, MARTA is a joke. Its an entity that runs in the red every year and only offers a transit solution to those that live within walking distance to a station either getting on or getting off. If you live or work away from the plus sign that is the rail system, you can’t use it effectively- I’d have to drive 40 minutes to a station, take a train, get off and catch a bus, then walk another mile to my building. That’s effective mass transportation!?!?!?
MARTA is no longer a solution to Atlanta’s traffic problems, it should have been developed in the 60’s and 70’s not when every part of the metro area is built on already. Atlanta is and will always be a auto-transit town, the idiodic ideas like this HOT lane are just money grabs by corrupt officials.
Cujo Bendi
November 22nd, 2011
1:39 pm
You commuters are SO STUPID. Why would you work 30 or more miles from where you live??? Mountain Man, you are a fool. Suburbs are disgusting. The suburbs are where all the garbage is. Laughing Cow has it exactly right.
Cujo Bendi
November 22nd, 2011
1:40 pm
Duh… Cars are the problem! Walk, bike, take transit.
FUGDOT
November 22nd, 2011
1:42 pm
Cujo- Because I don’t want to spend 400,000 on a 1000 sq ft ranch built in the 60s less than a mile from where I work. And because I don’t want to put my kids through the joke known as Dekalb County Schools. Are those good enough reasons for you?
curt
November 22nd, 2011
1:48 pm
First we paid to build I-85, Then we paid to widen it. Then we paid to build HOV lanes even though they knew they would have to when they got funds to widen it. Now we’re paying to build HOT lanes that will only benefit a few and by the DOT’s own admission they will not help traffic and might even make it worse. All of this while doing all they can to stop alternatives such as rail and more buses from happening while cities such as Charlotte and Denver leave us in the dust because they are doing just that.
Why? Because the highway contractors who took the Georgia DOT board to the Phoenician, a luxury resort in Arizona, a few years ago drive the bus on this one with well placed “political contributions”.
Remember a couple of years ago when we were poised to move forward with a comprehensive plan and C. W. Mathews, the largest paving contractor in the state, made a call to Sonny Purdue and got it stopped as the last minute? Politics is one thing but the Georgia DOT smells of corruption, lies and incompetence.
We need to be there when they hold hearings to expand this fiasco and make sure they don’t conceal the notification signs in inaccessible areas such as the center of cloverleafs where they’re impossible to read unless you want to stop in moving traffic and carry binoculars like they did in my area.
Z
November 22nd, 2011
1:48 pm
Republicans, they won’t come right out and tax you up front, but they will sure go behind your back and put in a sneaky fee/tax, called the HOT LANE. Its the republican way as it turns out. Republicans will tell you to your face, or at least on Faux News they won’t raise your taxes but all the while thinking of ways to place another Tax upon the unknowing, after all, their just sheep and they won’t know the difference. Vote smart come election time 2012, your vote could very well effect your way of life. Imagine that!
Jeffrey
November 22nd, 2011
1:52 pm
Kevin–If it wasn’t for the Federal Government, there would be no I-85 or I-75. There would be Buford Highway and Peachtree Industrial and your little fanny would be stuck in traffic for many hours more each day. Everyone just loves to pick on the Federal government for everything they touch. It’s just ridicilous! Is the Federal government perfect? No, far from it, but geez, give them a break and point the blame where the blame lies. L2223 actually explained this particular situation very well. Georgia’s Republican-led government loves to complain about the Feds all day, yet they always have their grubby hands out there ready for a hand-out.
HoHoHo
November 22nd, 2011
1:55 pm
Z,
You are way off topic here, but I’ll play…after the unmitigated disaster that is the administration of Barack Obama, I will likely NEVER vote for a democrat again. Thanks for playing, and wake up!
RB
November 22nd, 2011
1:57 pm
Other states that accepted monies for hot lanes actually built lanes, not confiscated lanes that had already been built. Georgia tried to do it as cheaply as possible and it has come back to bite them in the butt. Good going DOT.
Mountain Man
November 22nd, 2011
1:58 pm
I don’t think MARTA was ever designed to get people out of their cars. Rather it was designed to allow people who can’t afford cars to get where they are going. Relieving congestion has never been top priority for MARTA.
Mountain Man
November 22nd, 2011
2:00 pm
You got it right, RB – unfortunately now that we have taken the Fed’s money, we can’ just change it back to the way it was. They did try, though; that was why they tried to get a waiver to reinstate the 2-person HOV requirement.
Cujo Bendi
November 22nd, 2011
2:00 pm
Stinks to be you, FUGOT. Buy a townhouse, spend the extra cash to put your kids in a private school and/or small weekend home. Quality of life is about spending more time with your family and reducing stress. Not having a big yard you never use the you have to spend your weekends in the summer mowing. Since you’ll have more free time you can take you kids to the park.
Rob
November 22nd, 2011
2:04 pm
How about the Gwinnett citizens revolt by the bulk of us drive in the HOT lane without the silly Peachpass. What would they do? Try to enforce the bulk of the drivers with police pulling a mass amount of cars over for using the hot lane without paying??? I personally think a smart lawyer could actually have a good case to file suit against the state for making this lane fee based now since it was originally paid for by the citizens before it bacame a hot lane.
HoHoHo
November 22nd, 2011
2:05 pm
Clearly Cujo is a single person who hasn’t made it to the real world yet.
What next
November 22nd, 2011
2:23 pm
Oh, yea. Blame it on someone else. Come on, G-DOT, step up and take responsibility by admitting your stupid actions were a mistake.
Travis
November 22nd, 2011
2:28 pm
adding the ability for 2 people would put the lane in the same spot is was before the HOT lane. It was almost as crowded as the other lanes. I for one like the lane. Does it suck to pay, sure. But you have the choice. Most days it is 1.55 from start to finish. If 3.00 a day makes or breaks your budget carpool. Its not that difficult.
Mountain Man
November 22nd, 2011
2:34 pm
“Republicans, they won’t come right out and tax you up front, but they will sure go behind your back”
Yes, I remember years ago when I lived in Cherokee County. The county sent out new valuations for your property because they said the State told them they had to. But, they told us, don’t contest the valuations, because they would adjust the millage rate downward so it would be “revenue neutral”. After the time period for contesting the valuations had expired, they said, ” oh, we just took a look at our county finances and we can’t afford to roll back the millage rates”. At the next election they campaigned on the platform of never having voted for a tax increase (although a big property tax increase had occurred). Yep, every single one was a Republican.
Mountain Man
November 22nd, 2011
2:36 pm
“Since you’ll have more free time you can take you kids to the park.”
Are you talking about the park where all the homosexuals hang out?
Mountain Man
November 22nd, 2011
2:37 pm
Or just the park where people get mugged?
Mountain Man
November 22nd, 2011
2:38 pm
I’m sorry – I am thinking of Georgia Tech, where you get mugged or raped.
honested
November 22nd, 2011
2:40 pm
Rob,
Occupy Hot Lanes does seem to have promise.
Wouldn’t take but a couple of times.
Mountain Man
November 22nd, 2011
2:40 pm
“adding the ability for 2 people would put the lane in the same spot is was before the HOT lane. It was almost as crowded as the other lanes”
Then it was clearly not being UNDERutilized, was it? Sounds like it was effective. Now those cars that were in that lane are sandwiched in with all the others in the remaining lanes. So this helps with congestion how?