Today was the quarterly meeting of the TIME Task Force, a group I was “voluntold” to join back in 2005 that quickly became one of the best parts of my job. You know TIME has to stand for something that sounds really complicated and boring, as all task forces and government agencies do: Traffic Incident Management Enhancement. Say that 5 times really fast. But it accurately describes what the Task Force does – finds ways to enhance traffic incident management, which is a bureaucratic way to say getting the wrecks off the damn roads.
What’s funny is that the TIME Task Force has survived seven years due to the sheer force of will of a few people, and the DOT’s willingness to let some of us to serve on the TIME Board of Directors. Other than that, TIME hasn’t been able to get on many people’s radar, or stay on it for very long. The irony is – and I think that phrase will be in every post on this blog – that accidents are 50% of the traffic problem. I would think that any group of people trying to figure out (1) how to prevent accidents or (2) finding “best practices” in getting the damn road open after an accident would be able to command any amount of money needed for the organization. Or at least get the attention of everyone interested in solving Atlanta’s notorious, relentless congestion. So far, that’s not the case. (more…)
There’s nothing prettier than a bird’s-eye view of a wide-open highway on a sunny day. Well, except a wall-size map that shows nothing but green, meaning the highways are all wide-open. A boring day at the Traffic Management Center is a great day for everybody else. Conversely, an “exciting” day at the TMC usually means some major accident that will ruin everybody’s day, if they’re fool enough to get on the interstate behind it. Then the phones start ringing off the hook, and the Operators start catching seven varieties of hell from faceless, anonymous, really upset people.
If I were one of the TMC Operators, I think I’d have to have a new liver by now. Or I’d be a really good candidate for that show, “Intervention.” I’d be like the poor girl who was hooked on computer duster and bought 10 cans a day at the Office Depot. And lately the calls have been pouring in fast and more furious than ever. The traffic is back to what it was in early 2007, when gas was cheap and plentiful. And now that more people know about 511, they call to vent to whomever will answer the phone. It’s been brutal since early March. (more…)
It rains cars in Atlanta. Try driving in a storm, and you’ll see that this is true. As soon as the drops start to fall, there’s a much longer queue at a traffic light, and by the time you get on the interstate, something has happened and everyone has ground to a halt. People think that having their own car is a sign of independence and freedom, but when you’re sitting in your car, unable to move, and everyone around you is stuck, you realize that, in Atlanta, having a car means you’re willing to spend time in your own little prison. And the prison is not just the car. It’s the mindset that going anywhere requires planning and a certain willingness to give up a lot of time just to run mundane errands. Every trip requires at least 30 minutes, plus planning time, if you’re going to drive somewhere. For suburbanites, even 30 minutes isn’t enough.
I’m paid to watch and report on traffic every day. I’ve discovered that, if people know WHY they’re stuck on I-75 for about 30 minutes, immobile, they’re OK with it. They just want to know why. They accept that they can’t move – the aggravation is the not-knowing, not the not-moving.
Why is that? Does anyone put a price on the aggravation anymore, or is that just part of the price of living in a big city? Atlanta used to be a nice place to live and work. People have moved here in droves, and they’re still coming, despite the traffic. But most of the current residents don’t remember what it was like to get around without thinking twice about it. Those of us who do can only shake our heads. And then spend about an hour planning our next adventure up the Downtown Connector.
It wasn’t always this way, and it doesn’t have to be this way. But it’s gonna take everybody to fix it. The D.O.T., the legislature, the PD, the Governor’s office, the Feds, the business community — everybody is still beating their brains out to figure out the “solution” to Atlanta’s traffic problem. But there’s an underlying belief that, like the weather, traffic is just one of those inevitable conditions that no one can really do anything about.
I refuse to accept that. And it’s become a personal mission not only to let everybody know where the bad traffic or accidents are, but to get all of us involved. This will only work when everyone decides to break out of his own individual prison.
