Those wacky Atlantans

[gridlockjoe]

By way of explanation, my job at Metro Traffic involves maintaining the databases of roadways and cross-streets that we use in our traffic reporting. For the past couple of weeks I have been working on the Atlanta database.

Here are my top 5 pet peeves with the Atlanta street system:

5. The streets run in anything but a straight line, and absolutely not anywhere near the four cardinal compass directions.

4. Weird street names: I suppose "Best Friend Road" is a Baptist version of Lovers' Lane, and "Super Deluxe Road"... well, I believe it was recently paved.

3. The longest intersection name I have ever come across: Andrew Young International Boulevard Northwest at Centennial Olympic Park Drive Northwest.

2. "Boulevard". That's the entire name of the street. You'd think they could come up with a name to put in front of "Boulevard". Say, how about...

1. "Peachtree". Every other street in Atlanta is named with some variant of Peachtree. Peachtree Street, West Peachtree Street (these are two different streets, and yes, they intersect each other -- twice), Peachtree Battle Avenue, Peachtree CIrcle, Peachtree Corners Circle, Peachtree Drive, Peachtree Dunwoody Road, Peachtree Industrial Boulevard (no relation to "Boulevard" above), Peachtree Memorial Drive (for when you can't remember which Peachtree you're on), Peachtree Road, North Peachtree Road (again, two separate streets), Peachtree Valley Road, Peachtree Walk. I don't even like peaches!

Don't get me wrong, I like Atlanta. Met a very nice waitress at the Chevy's (now gone) on New Northside Drive. The King Center was very informative. Just don't ask me to move there. I'm still getting used to Houston, and it's on a grid system (at least it is here in west Houston).

So I'm watching 24 and during the scenes with the Vice President, I kept thinking of the Doom Song. "I'm going to sing the Doom Song now! Doom doom doom! Doomy doomy doom! The end!"

Comments

[jcello.livejournal.com]

I still boggle that we have the south side of eastbound Northwest Highway. :)

[smart-ted.livejournal.com]

Joe, have you ever been to Westchester County, NY? This is the first place I have lived where I needed to buy a compass to find my way around. Also, for the first year, I just added one hour to the estimated driving time because I was sure to be lost if I hadn't been to a place before. Driving in Westchester is a horror because the streets are just paved over deerpaths or something, nothing goes straight, the names change constantly and the people here don't really believe in street signs.

My favorite street is Midland Ave. which wanders around Westchester, making right angle turns at intersections -- where else to roads not continue through intersections? It also has a place where you get to an intersection and it does continue for a block, then the name changes. To ACTUALLY follow the road you have to turn left at the intersection, then take the next right and for a block it has another name (but not the same as the other name the other road turns into!) but then turns into Midland again.

[gridlockjoe.livejournal.com]

My only experiences of driving through Westchester are on I-95, the Bronx River/Sprain Brook/Taconic State Parkways, and I-684 and I-287.

In Dallas, one can go to the intersection of Cedar Springs Road and Cedar Springs Road, then go a couple of miles to the intersection of Pearl Street and Pearl Street.