The department announced the development in September.
“Most people don’t know that the 285 speed limit is 55,” GDOT Commissioner Keith Golden told the Perimeter Business Alliance at its monthly luncheon Friday at Cox Enterprises in Sandy Springs. “We wanted to raise the speed limit to 65, then lower that speed limit when congestion gets worse. We’re only going to do that on the northern section of the interstate. This system is used all around the world, and we will be one of the first states to do that.”
Golden said the DOT’s fiscal 2013 budget was $2.1 billion.
The commissioner said about $393 million of it was to be used for debt service.
Golden also said the DOT had a “bleak outlook in terms of revenue.”
Georgia has one of the lowest gas taxes in the country, according to Golden, and about 90 percent of the GDOT’s funding comes from this tax. Revenue keeps going down each year, he said.
The department now employs 4,300 workers, half the number employed when Golden began working there in the 1980s. There were 5,900 Georgia residents employed by the agency in 2008. Golden said he wanted to take the agency to a more business-minded operation.
To do this, it will engage in public-private partnerships and look for innovative tools and techniques to work with, according to Golden.
Follow us on Twitter!
Left Lane travels at average 70 Mph.
Middle Lanes travels at average 65 Mph.
Right Lane travels at average 60 Mph.
Conclusion: Variable speed limits are just matching existing traffic conditions.
It's going to cost $4 million to put electronic changing speed limits signs up. 65, lower to 55 when congested. It barely moves when congested anyway. Raising to 65 to ease congestion? When not congested it moves at 70 anyway.
Low level government employees never cease to amaze me. What fantasy lands they live in.