Calling all Experts - Eastern route around Atlanta?

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Black Iron

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Oct 6, 2015
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We live in North Florida near the I-10 / I-75 junction. We've been traveling by car to some property we just bought in Blue Ridge, Georgia (just north of Atlanta on the east side of I-75). Because of the whole I-85 mess and the general construction in Atlanta, we've hit some major slow-downs during non-rush-hour traffic doing the "straight thru on I-75" route.

On our next trip to Blue Ridge, I'm driving our motorhome up, and I want to avoid the mess in Atlanta altogether. I don't want to try I-285 because Google maps has been showing I-285 to be slower than I-75, and some natives of Atlanta confirm I-285 gets pretty badly backed up. I'm thinking about taking an eastern route, as follows, or something close based on your expert responses:

I-75 north to Macon, GA
US 129 to US 441 at Eatonton
US 441 to Madison and Athens
US 129 to Gainesville, GA
GA 53 to GA 183 to GA 52 to Ellijay, GA

From Ellijay, I'm back on my regular route to Blue Ridge.

I know this diversion will add a couple of hours to my trip, which is fine by me. I'll trade sitting in traffic for a longer more relaxed drive, and if I have any problems with the motorhome, I can get off the road more easily, etc., etc.

I can't do the "after midnight" shot through Atlanta because of the time I need to get to camp to meet the engineer from the power company. The "western bypass" routes I've seen take me way too far west (like I-65) or right back into some tight spots (like Griffin).

Anyway, I'd really appreciate any insights or recommendations you might have. I haven't driven the motorhome through Atlanta anytime, even before the I-85 collapse, so I just want to avoid it altogether for now.

Thanks.
 
  That's fine as far as Gainesville; 183 and 52 might get rather interesting. I haven't done it. Otherwise consider going around to the west via Newnan, Dallas, Cartersville etc or the big loop Griffin, Newnan, Carrollton, Rome and then over to Ellijay.
 
Thanks for the reply. We were on GA 52 out of Ellijay as far as Amicalola Falls State Park when we were looking for property. Nice road, should be no problem for RV. We weren't on GA 183 at all, so it's a bit of a mystery. That stretch isn't very long.

I haven't seen the Newnan, Dallas, Cartersville idea before. Any suggestions for route numbers. Looks like GA 16 would be the route of choice from I-75 to Newnan. 16 runs thru Griffin, and I've seen several posts around the web about headaches in Griffin?

Thanks John.
 
I live in Lawrenceville, GA and have an RV lot in Ellijay. An alternate route I suggest is I75-I675-I285 (E) to GA400/19 north, exit on Hwy 140 (Holcomb Bridge Rd) towards Canton, then north on I575. Local traffic via Hwy 140 gets busy in early morning and afternoon and it bottlenecks at the I285/GA400 ramp somewhat.

If you choose to go on the  route you planned, pay close attention to Hwy 53 signage thru Gainesville as it's confusing at the Hwy 53 intersection. 53 west (Dawsonville Hwy) is what you want. Just turn left off Hwy 129 in Gainesville onto Jessie Jewell Pkwy and right onto John Morrow Pkwy and you'll see Hwy 53 intersection up a ways.

Hwy 53 thu Dawsonville and Hwy 183 northwest to Ellijay is scenic and winding and was in good shape a couple of months ago when we traveled that way to Amicalola park.

Good Luck,


 
Could you leave a day earlier and take your regular route at night?  It will give you time to set up, have a few cold one's and relax and veg.
 
Thanks, Reg.

We looked at doing a partial on the bypass to miss all of the construction on I-75 before you hit I-575. We looked at Google maps traffic reports on the last couple of trips, and both sides of the bypass look worse than I-75 in that "window" from 10AM to 3PM. It seems like all it takes to foul things up is a couple of motoring morons swapping paint. It's a freeway when it's free, not so free when it's not.

I did look at taking US 29 off of the Athens bypass over to Lawrenceville and running GA 20 to Canton. When I dumped that route into Google, it tells me I really wouldn't save much time over my route on up to Gainesville. Think that would be a better alternative?

Hey, Rene.

My beautiful bride is going to drive our Town & Country with our utility trailer in tow. The motorhome is staying at camp, and we're coming back to FL in the van. We really want to travel together on the way north, and she has to work the day before we need to leave. So that kind of nixes the midnight run. Thanks for the good thought.
 
Just be sure to avoid the I-85 highway between Atlanta and Greenville SC.  It's near Atlanta that had the bad fire that collapsed the freeway.

ArdraF
 
Black Iron said:
Thanks, Reg.

We looked at doing a partial on the bypass to miss all of the construction on I-75 before you hit I-575. We looked at Google maps traffic reports on the last couple of trips, and both sides of the bypass look worse than I-75 in that "window" from 10AM to 3PM. It seems like all it takes to foul things up is a couple of motoring morons swapping paint. It's a freeway when it's free, not so free when it's not.

I did look at taking US 29 off of the Athens bypass over to Lawrenceville and running GA 20 to Canton. When I dumped that route into Google, it tells me I really wouldn't save much time over my route on up to Gainesville. Think that would be a better alternative?

US 29/316 to Lawrenceville is a nice hwy, but hwy 20 gets crazy at Buford with the Mall of Georgia and they are still working on the bridge over the Chattahoochie River. Your original route is doable, less stress, but longer and scenic.
Safe Travels,
Reggie
 
ArdraF said:
Just be sure to avoid the I-85 highway between Atlanta and Greenville SC.  It's near Atlanta that had the bad fire that collapsed the freeway.

ArdraF

That was down inside the metro area, just before the GA-400 turn-off. Would only effect people trying to go through downtown.
 
LarsMac said:
That was down inside the metro area, just before the GA-400 turn-off. Would only effect people trying to go through downtown.
That's certainly where the break was but I think one of the things the OP was concerned about are the considerable ripple effects beyond just going through downtown.  My commute has  gone from 20 mins to 35 and many coworkers envy my 75% increase, and my route doesn't approach that break.  Unfortunately, I don't have any better suggestions than those presented.  I think the north I-75 improvements  for the new Braves stadium still aren't finished, but that may be on a similar mid-June schedule as the I-85 repair.  So we should be back to our normal mess then.
 
I might skip Gainesville too -- maybe stay on 441 to Baldwin, Ga., jog your way west a few miles to Cleveland, then US 129 > 19 > 76 to Blue Ridge. 
 
  Yeah I don't see any reasonable bypass around Griffin; it's been so long I don't know how traffic is in that area.

  When I go to/from Cleveland I go US-441 to the north side of Cornelia, then GA 105 and 115 into Cleveland. US-129/19 up to Blairsville has an increased pucker factor. I've done it in a car but not in the MH.
 

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