Luca Pietro0:00 Is it just me or does anyone else think that the city of Atlanta needs to put more of an emphasis on fixing the roads surrounding the city?0:11 Um so speaking in Metro Atlanta, but uh smaller streets and roads rather than fixing highways, closing off four or five lanes at a time, uh for a highway that's in perfectly good condition that just needs a a revamp and infrastructure.0:28 Um I personally think it's more important to fix the 10 to 20 potholes that I just passed going down Pont Celion rather than fixing up the highways, but that's just my opinion.
Carl Dagher0:00 Yeah, Luca, this is something I've I've noticed.0:03 I mean, in my time living here.0:05 Uh the roads are horrible.0:08 Um I think traffic patterns are very inefficient.0:12 Um there's a lot of work to be done to improve I mean Atlanta's known for having the worst traffic and the worst roads in the country.0:18 So I I think it's been a issue for too long for there to not be significant change.0:24 Um I actually did a project on this topic um la this summer.0:28 Um I I did some crash investigation and traffic investigation in the city of Atlanta for a computer science course.0:35 Um and in my research I I discovered that in I think August of 2024, August 2024, um there is a moving Atlanta Forward initiative that was passed and essentially there's six hundred sixty million dollars pledged to the city of Atlanta and only I think about seven percent of that was pledged to improving traffic um issues in roads in Atlanta.0:58 And you know, for a city that's known for having such bad traffic, I think financially we should invest a little bit more in improving it.1:11 And from what I've seen on on local election news for Atlanta, um most politicians don't necessarily run on improving road infrastructure or traffic issues in Atlanta.1:24 It's more crime, which of course crime is is the high priority in this city, but I think improving roads should be up there.1:33 I mean i i the roads are the heart of the city and and you know for a city that's expanding this this fast uh we we need more effective traffic control in roads.1:44 So yeah, I think Atlanta should focus its resources on fixing the roads, but we'll we'll see if that ever happens.1:52 I mean it doesn't seem like anything will be happening anytime soon.
Wesley Joyce0:00 Yeah, I'm currently sitting in traffic now, and I think y'all both bring up some very valid points.0:05 Um, Carl, I think what you said about a campaign hinging on fixing potholes um probably wouldn't be one of the strongest, you know, when we see some of the more um polarizing ideas like crime and um social injustice taking precedent, especially in a city as diverse as Atlanta.0:23 Um, but it really is horrible out here, and it's amazing to me that the city of Atlanta's fix for a lot of these potholes is just throw a steel plate on top of it and leave it for four years.0:34 Um, you know, like it I've been driving over the same steel plates to cover these potholes um around campus, you know, since I got dropped off at campus, which is just ridiculous.0:46 Um and yeah, nothing about nothing about these roads are smooth.0:51 You know, I've popped numerous tires, and now I'm I've drive a little bit bigger of a truck, you know, so it's kind of hard for me to move around sometimes, but I've popped three tires in this city on temporary fixes or culverts that were busted out of place.1:03 I mean, it's just not good.1:05 Um, and it's a hard thing to come back.1:07 Luca, I know you're talking about driving on ponds and there was so many of them.1:10 Um, but if you shut down ponds, I mean midtown is gonna be a mess.1:15 I mean, midtown would take you three hours to drive across the ponds wasn't functioning, you know.1:20 Um I know they back up these highways and it just causes immense amounts of traffic, and you have to you have to stop traffic to do work.1:28 Um obviously people need to be safe.1:30 And you know, I also wonder you see all these big highway projects, and like I never know exactly what they're doing.1:38 And you know, I'm sure there's some uh there's a really smart guy in a desk somewhere that you know proposed the idea and and let it happen, but um I don't know.1:49 I it doesn't it doesn't make sense to me and it doesn't seem that people are very clear on it.1:54 And Carl, you speaking on only 7% of that budget going to traffic improvement.1:58 I mean, we're mate wasting millions of people's time every single day.2:02 Maybe a couple hundred thousand a day.2:04 But I mean, even the mayor is wasting his time when he goes home in this traffic, so I really don't quite understand that one.2:10 Uh I hope that they can fix it soon, but if we're being honest, uh it's likely not to happen.
Vansh Patel0:00 Luca, I think you're definitely right.0:01 I think the city needs to place more emphasis on these smaller roads that most people take to commute around town.0:08 Uh I think they're definitely lacking in that division.0:12 But I think in if I were to take a guess, I think the city take thinks about it in two ways.0:18 Uh you know, is is closing down some of these streets worth it for its civilians?0:25 You know, a lot of people depend on some of these roads to get to work, to uh uh to get home.0:31 And I mean there's already such a a crisis with traffic in Atlanta.0:35 Uh you know, would it be reasonable to even close down these roads to to fix them?0:41 But another thing that uh goes on your argument is yeah, why why are we not able to fix these roads?0:50 Uh Atlanta's home to some of the most jobs uh in Georgia, probably the most, but uh the amount of tax revenue going to the state of Georgia, uh in Atlanta especially, how are we not able to fix the roads?1:08 Uh I think that's one of the most basic things there is.1:11 Uh every everybody in Atlanta uses a form of transportation of some sort.1:16 And as we don't have a rail system, it's it's likely dependent on the road.1:21 So why are we not fixing the backbone to transportation in the city?1:25 So I think you made an excellent point.