The I575 Fiasco

Donald Trump has routinely pronounced politicians dumb.  I am reminded of this every day that I drive down the I575 corridor on the way to my job at Kennesaw State University.  The highway construction project is apparently so misguided that it could only have been conceived by intellectually impaired planners.

Let me explain.  A central lane is currently being added to the artery.  It is supposed to be reversible.  During the morning rush hour, commuters will travel south, but then during the evening crunch traffic will head north.  This is supposed to alleviate the escalating congestion.

Use of this new lane will also command an extra fee.  Tolls will be charged so that only those in a hurry will avail themselves of the proposed relief.  Then too, the state will be able to defray the cost of the project with the expected revenue.

The first hint I got that things might not work out this way was when I noticed that the single new lane was constricted whenever it had to get around the pylons that support the bridges over the roadway.  There is simply not enough space to do anything else.

I also became aware of the permanent concrete barriers that border this new lane.  These encase it so consistently that driving down it will surely be like going through a narrow canyon.  Thus, the drivers views will be constricted and they will have to make sure to keep to the center of the gorge.

So confined is this space that one of my colleagues wondered what will happen if there is an accident?   How, he asked, will the police, or ambulances, or towing vehicles get to the scene of the crash?  Will they have to helicopter in?

He might also have asked what will happen to traffic if there is a collision or a disabled vehicle.  How far will cars be lined up behind it?  Since they will not be able to escape through those concrete barricades, how long would they be stuck?  It might be for hours.

Several years ago, I purchased a reserved parking space at KSU.  I assumed that this would be convenient.  If I had a regular place to put my car—one that was close to my office—this would make life easier.  Except that it did not work out that way.  All too often poachers barred me from my spot.

Then, when I complained to the campus police, they found that there was little they could do.  Although they were supposed to tow away illegally parked automobiles, they had a great deal of difficulty locating the offenders.  As a result, they too were frustrated.

It was not long before I concluded that it made no sense to spend extra for what amounted to an unending hassle.  Is this what will happen with I575?  Will drivers who are charged a fee for using a road on which they are periodically trapped decide that it is foolish to pay for being tortured?  If so, where will the projected revenues go?

I575 was originally designed to be expanded from two lanes to three.  This was why the overpasses, entrances and exists were laid out as they are.  As a consequence, in order to make the new arrangement work additional ramps and toll plazas have to be added.

This has significantly jacked up construction costs.  While there might have been no alternative on I75, where little space was available for expansion, on I575 it was unnecessary.  If the original intensions had been honored, money would undoubtedly have been saved.

So far as I can see, this is the very definition of “penny wise and pound foolish.”  When, in the future, a combination of increased congestion and inadequate usage of the central suicide lane dictate that the initial plans be reintroduced, undoing the current mess will be extraordinarily expensive.

But don’t look for correctives anytime soon.  Politicians do not admit mistakes.  It will take a new crop of public officials—and a crisis—to fix what will be foreseeably broken.

Melvyn L. Fein, Ph.D.

Professor of Sociology

Kennesaw State University