quick question,

At 2AM. As they say, been there done that.

There are 2 places I avoid like the plague. One is the Washington-Baltimore beltway and the other is Atlanta. Been through there 3 times and it was never a good experience. If I go that way again, I will drive 100 miles put of my way to avoid it.

We went thru a week ago - southbound has construction not sure how long it will last last add an hour during busy times. We generally just avoid the right lane and usually don't have any big delays.

I've driven from Cincinnati to Florida several times, in a Class C pulling a Jeep toad. As you all know, the right lane exits and a new lane opens all the way to the left. Nobody wants to drive behind a MH, so they speed up to close the gap. Not fun. So one year I planned it to go thru Atlanta at 3 AM. Traffic was light until I ran into a traffic jam. When I was almost through, I went past the problem. Some guy had been in the jam for so long, he fell asleep in the left lane. No horns. Everyone just waited until they could merge and went on their way.
Now I go through Alabama to Pensacola, FL. and then head east to I-75. It doesn't save any time, but my blood pressure remains stable.

agesilaus wrote:
I don't know why people worry so much about Atlanta. If possible avoid the rush hours. As for construction I haven't seen any on I-75 the last couple of times we went thru. Use the HOV lanes assuming you have at least two people in the vehicle.

You obviously have not been up I-75 lately. Huge project going on from 285 for several miles. Adding a new overhead road and several lanes.

Traffic moves pretty well between say 10 AM and noon. Then maybe 1 PM until around 3 or 3:30 Rush hour starts early for the N bound going that direction for some reason

I've traveled through Atlanta several times over the last 3 or 4 years, in December and March. Never had a problem and we were towing the trailer. Traffic heavy? Yes, but not any more crazy than other large cities in my opinion. I drove straight through, plan no stops a good 15 miles South or North of Atlanta. So for, never had problems, delays, or anything. I retained my speed, let other pass me, used my Tom-Tom which shows when the lanes shift ahead, plan my moves on the fly, in enough time to move over a lane or so, turn on my turn signal, and start nudging over. I found drivers around Atlanta to be much more friendly than those driving I-465 around Indianapolis!

Not really a good time. For thru traffic we've found the fast lane or the lane next to it to be best. We've found the copilot can be a great help by keeping the driver apprised of which lane to be in if your route splits ahead. Some major splits exit right and some left. Both DW and I drive the Bus and we've found it's not worth the effort to try and pick a "light" traffic time. We just take it as it happens. and whoever is in the driver seat at the time just deals with it.

I don't know why people worry so much about Atlanta. If possible avoid the rush hours. As for construction I haven't seen any on I-75 the last couple of times we went thru. Use the HOV lanes assuming you have at least two people in the vehicle.

We almost always run into a traffic slowdown somewhere, not always in the central city area either. It might take 10 minutes to get thru that but that's a lot less time than you would lose by trying to bypass the city. The ring road always seems to have worse traffic than I-75 so we just stay on 75.