Quote:
Originally Posted by john3eblover
there are no where near 1,000,000 jobs in the city of atlanta...
|
The ARC says there are about 450,000 jobs within the city limits of Atlanta, which is a little less than 20% of all jobs in the metro area.
Of course these 450,000 jobs are not all downtown. Many are in employment centers spread out along the Peachtree corridor such as Midtown and Buckhead. Many people work at the Airport or in the city's warehouse/industrial zones. Lots of folks work from home or in restaurants, colleges, shops and smaller commercial businesses around town. A number of major employers (MARTA, the school board and city government) by definition have their employees scattered all over the city.
And obviously many of the 450,000 jobs within the city are performed by people who already live inside the city limits, so only a portion of these jobs are filled by commuters. The vast majority of Atlanta commuters (3 out of 4) are simply traveling from suburb to suburb.
The point I'm getting at is that cities like Atlanta don't need massive freeways tearing through their central urban areas. The concept of hordes of commuters pouring into work in a central downtown simply doesn't apply here. Atlanta is something of an extreme case but the same trends are apparent in many U.S. cities.
The negative effect on our cities of these gargantuan concrete gulches we call expressways cannot be overstated. They destroy connectivity. They form absolute physical barriers within the urban fabric that can only be penetrated at a handful of locations. They take up vast amounts of land which would be otherwise available for parks, homes, businesses and other development. They eradicate streams and forests. They bring severe air pollution and the non-stop 24/7 roar of automobiles.
Even worse, the burden of expressways is grossly misplaced. Although their detrimental effects fall on the city, they exist primarily to serve commuters whose destination is
not the city at all, but who are merely passing through on their way from one suburb to another.
If there were ever reasons for expressways inside the city limits, they certainly do not exist now. They are unncessary and enormously destructive. Given the limited amount of employment inside the city and its diffuse nature, we'd be much better off with:
(1) a first class public transportation inside the city, with more numerous and more accessible stops. Light rail would be great but modern BRT would be better than nothing;
(2) a well-designed system of surface streets, with more numerous and efficient connections, intersections, and controls; and
(3) carefully planned and integrated pedestrian and bike access.