[ale] OT: Best way to go from I75 north to 20 west in Atlanta

[Sean]

steve,
My wife and I have made the trip west from Atlanta many times -- towing
a small camping trailer.  We are aware of the difficulties.
Here is one way to avoid the mess that is Atlanta -- which is not QUITE
as bad as it was last month now that I-85 has reopened:

Head North on I-75 into Georgia and leave the interstate at Tifton and
head west, through Albany, GA, on US82. Continue west on US82 to
Montgomery, AL, and pick up I-65 North to Birmingham. There shift to I-
22 and head for Memphis, and then pick up I-40.
The problem with this route is that Oklahoma is just as hot as the more
southern routes and the roads are worse -- MUCH worse.  We will not
drive through Oklahoma and longer as the potholes and broken pavement
-- on the interstates -- were tearing up our car and trailer.
Personally, I would recommend using I-20 all the way to Dallas and then
 swing around that mess to the north and take US 287 all the way to
Amarillo.  From there I-40 through Albuquerque is lightly traveled.

Your relatives can use the route above to Birmingham and then pick up
I-20 towards Dallas.

If they want to stick to the interstates (and play with all the trucks
that are moving through Atlanta) they should schedule their ride
through the Atlanta metroplex between 10 am and 2 pm, Saturday through
Thursday.  Traffic can turn into a real hairball on Friday anytime
after noon.

Westbound traffic on I-20  twenty miles outside Atlanta has a LOT of
trucks, but usually rolls along at or above the speed limit.

Sean

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On Wed, 2017-05-24 at 15:50 -0400, Steve Litt wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> I'm from Orlando Florida, and all I know about Atlanta traffic is
> that
> the traffic on I75 is usually horrible from mile marker 185 near
> Forsythe up past downtown Atlanta up to about mile marker 285. I once
> averaged 10mph on I75, north of downtown Atlanta, for two straight
> hours, on a Saturday night at 10:30pm. I also know that once, trying
> to
> avoid that kind of traffic, I took the I285 loop to bypass mile
> markers
> 238 thru 259, and that was horrible too.
> 
> I have relatives who need to drive from Orlando to Los Angeles in
> early
> September. They want to take the north route (I40) instead of the
> south
> route (I10) due to the extreme heat in September. To the extent
> possible, they want to stick to the Interstate freeway system.
> 
> If traffic were not an issue, I75 to I20 to I22 to I40 would be
> perfect. So I have some questions about traffic:
> 
> Is the traffic on I20 west of downtown as bad as I75 traffic? How far
> west of downtown is it below 40mph?
> 
> Would I75 to I285 to I20 be better than I75 directly to I20, or is
> I285
> still so full of construction that it's slower than I75?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> SteveT
> 
> Steve Litt 
> May 2017 featured book: Twenty Eight Tales of Troubleshooting
> http://www.troubleshooters.com/28
> 
> 
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