American Dream

Truck-only toll (TOT) lanes "hold substantial promise" in the Atlanta area says Douglas Hooker ED of the Georgia Tollway Authority (GSRTA) in an introduction to a study just released. The study titled "Atlanta TOT Facilities Study" conducted by Parsons Brinckerhoff was directed by a study steering committee comprising local officials and three trucking reps. Hooker says the truckers "positive reaction" to the proposal, and the importance of the city as a trucking hub provide "a compelling reason to pursue the concept of truck facilities in the region."

The study concentrated on a truckway backgone backbone of I-75 north and south of the belt route I-285, then using the western
and northern sections of the belt itself, and on I-85N. I-75 is a southeast to northwest trending highway. I-75S goes from Atlanta to Florida, I-75N from Atlanta to Chattanooga TN and is a major trucking route between Florida and the midwest and Ontario. It is also a route with the I-16 spur between Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia's major port. I-85 heads northeast out of Atlanta through the Carolinas and central Virginia where it converges on I-95. I-85 therefore constitutes a major link for Atlanta to the mid-Atlantic and the northeast.

These are some of the largest volume truck routes in the US - in the same league as I-80/90/294 (OH Tpk, Indiana TR, Borman, IL Kingery, IL Tristate Twy) and with the truck routes out of the ports of Los Angeles (I-710/CA60) according to Freight Analysis Framework data from the FHWA. I-285 the belt route runs 23k trucks/day out of total traffic of 160k or 14% and the FAF projects growth to 39k trucks out of total 244k by 2020, or 16% of the total vehicles.

Also from the FAF data, I-75 through the whole of GA runs 14k trucks/day out of total traffic of 99k, a high 14% for trucks. But interestingly the absolute truck numbers are similar in the Atlanta area to the rural areas, but of course the proportion drops precipitately within Atlanta. I-75 where it is cosigned with I-85 and is 2x7 lanes near the downtown last year showed an average daily count of 349k, likely the largest AADT in the country, and probably only exceeded worldwide by H-401 in Toronto.