Georgia Navigator (sometimes also as Georgia NaviGAtor) is an Advanced Traffic Management System used in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is operated by the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT), and was first activated in April 1996, just before the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
Most of the Georgia Navigator system is installed in metro Atlanta, where at least half of the state's population lives. It includes traffic cameras, changeable message signs, ramp meters, and a traffic speed sensor system. Unlike other ITS deployments around the world, Georgia Navigator almost exclusively uses video detection cameras to gather traffic flow data, as opposed to traditional sensors embedded in the pavement. Additionally, a portion of the system (Georgia 400 [1] and parts of I-16, I-75 and I-85 outside of Atlanta [2] ) receives traffic flow information from floating car data gathered by anonymously tracking cell phones. All devices are connected by buried optical fiber, which in turn links to GDOT's command center at its Transportation Management Center (TMC) in Atlanta.
Outside of Atlanta, Georgia Navigator components were installed on Interstate 475 near Macon during its expansion from four lanes to six lanes. The Macon system is connected to the Atlanta TMC via fiber, [3] allowing communication between the two centers. Georgia Navigator also has weather stations with pavement sensors mainly in the mountain and coastal areas of Georgia. Traffic sensors are installed on official evacuation routes, but are only activated during a hurricane approaching the Georgia coast or eastern Florida panhandle.
Information from the system is distributed to the public through a variety of outlets. GDOT administers two of its own websites (a standard version and a customizable "My Navigator" version), and operates a 511 telephone information service. [4] Additionally, Navigator data is used by several other companies, who typically enhance and package the data for sale to various media outlets or private websites. An example of a third-party use of Navigator data is The Weather Channel, which shows current traffic conditions (provided by Traffic Pulse) during the local forecast portion of its broadcast.
Georgia Navigator is in the midst of a large expansion program.[ when? ] [5] The system covers nearly all of the Perimeter (Interstate 285) highway around Atlanta, and all Interstates within and several miles beyond it. It also covers the freeway portions of Peachtree Industrial Boulevard (SR 141) and Langford Parkway (SR 166), as well as Georgia 400 from I-285 to the Alpharetta area. As of May 2009, work on I-285 is nearing completion on the south side from I-85 east to I-75. Other expansion projects underway include US 78, GA 400 inside I-285, and I-85 in the Union City / Peachtree City area. By late 2009, nearly all freeways in metro Atlanta will have full Navigator coverage.
Several ramp meters began operation in 2008 and 2009 in metro Atlanta. [6] [7] Some of the first corridors to be metered were I-285, I-85 in Gwinnett County, I-75 in Cobb County, and I-575. Unlike early systems which used induction loops, the new meters will employ video detection cameras to sense the density of traffic and allow an optimized rate of vehicles to proceed onto the freeway.
On local roads, Navigator includes cameras and signs that are operated by local county and city governments, though coverage is not nearly as dense as the freeway portion of the system. The local road devices also feed into the Georgia Navigator system and are controlled by a common software platform. Traffic light operation is not currently part of the system, but work to integrate the signals into Navigator is underway.
A ramp meter, ramp signal, or metering light is a device, usually a basic traffic light or a two-section signal light together with a signal controller, that regulates the flow of traffic entering freeways according to current traffic conditions. Ramp meters are used at freeway on-ramps to manage the rate of automobiles entering the freeway. Ramp metering systems have proved to be successful in decreasing traffic congestion and improving driver safety.
In Downtown Atlanta, the Downtown Connector or 75/85 is the concurrent section of Interstate 75 and Interstate 85 through the core of the city. Beginning at the I-85/Langford Parkway interchange, the Downtown Connector runs generally due north, meeting the west–east I-20 in the middle. Just north of this is the Grady Curve around Grady Memorial Hospital. Continuing north, the terminus of the Downtown Connector is the Brookwood Interchange or Brookwood Split in the Brookwood area of the city. The overall length of the Downtown Connector is approximately 7.5 miles (12 km). Since the 2000s, it has been officially named James Wendell George Parkway for most of its length, although it is still designated the Connector in the mainstream. It also has unsigned designations State Route 401 (I-75) and State Route 403 (I-85) along its length, due to I-75 and I-85 having 400-series reference numbers.
Interstate 285 (I-285) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway encircling Atlanta, Georgia, for 63.98 miles (102.97 km). It connects the three major Interstate Highways to Atlanta: I-20, I-75, and I-85. Colloquially referred to as the Perimeter, it also carries unsigned State Route 407 (SR 407) and is signed as Atlanta Bypass on I-20, I-75, and I-85.
Georgia State Route 400 is a freeway and state highway in the U.S. state of Georgia serving parts of Metro Atlanta. It is concurrent with U.S. Route 19 (US 19) from exit 4 (Interstate 285) until its northern terminus south-southeast of Dahlonega, linking the city of Atlanta to its north-central suburbs and exurbs. SR 400 travels from the Lindbergh neighborhood in the Buckhead district of Atlanta, at Interstate 85 (I-85), to just south-southeast of Dahlonega. Like the Interstate highways, it is a limited-access road, but unlike the interstates, the exit numbers are not mileage-based, they are sequential. Once SR 400 passes exit 18 (SR 369), it changes from a limited-access freeway into an at-grade divided highway with traffic lights, but still with a high speed limit of 65 miles per hour (105 km/h), and ends at the J.B. Jones Intersection at SR 60/SR 115 in Lumpkin County.
The Highway Emergency Response Operators (HERO) program is a freeway service patrol operated in metro Atlanta, United States by the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT). It is a part of the GDOT's Office of Traffic Operations. Both the program and the individual vehicles are typically referred to by the bacronym HERO.
The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) is the organization in charge of developing and maintaining all state and federal roadways in the U.S. state of Georgia. In addition to highways, the department also has a limited role in developing public transportation and general aviation programs. GDOT is headquartered in downtown Atlanta and is part of the executive branch of state government.
State Route 316 (SR 316), also known as University Parkway, or Georgia 316, is a 38.9-mile-long (62.6 km) state highway that exists in the northern part of the U.S. state of Georgia. It links the Atlanta metropolitan area with Athens, home of the University of Georgia.
State Route 141 (SR 141) is a 34.1-mile-long (54.9 km) state highway that runs southwest-to-northeast in the northwest part of the U.S. state of Georgia. It connects the Buckhead area of Atlanta with Cumming. Its routing exists within portions of Fulton, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Forsyth counties.
Interstate 675 (I-675) is an 11.04-mile-long (17.77 km) auxiliary Interstate Highway in the southeast part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. It travels from I-75 in Stockbridge in the south to I-285 in the north. I-675 is also designated as the Terrell Starr Parkway and also has the unsigned internal state route designation of State Route 413 (SR 413).
Tom Moreland Interchange, colloquially known as Spaghetti Junction, is the interchange of Interstate 85 (I-85) and I-285, along with several access roads, in northern DeKalb County, Georgia, northeast of Atlanta and just to the south of Norcross in Gwinnett County. It is named for Tom Moreland, a former commissioner of the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) from 1975 to 1987.
The Northwest Corridor Express Lanes and locally known as the Tollercoaster, is a completed Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) project which has put Peach Pass-only toll lanes along Interstate 75 (I-75) and I-575 in the northwestern suburbs of the Atlanta metropolitan area. It carries traffic between northwest Atlanta and Cobb and Cherokee counties by adding two lanes for paying vehicles along I-75, with one continuing up a dedicated exit onto I-575 to Sixes Road, and the other straight on I-75 to Hickory Grove Road, just past Wade Green Road. North of the interchange where they split, the new lanes are located in the median, between the original northbound and southbound lanes. From the Perimeter to I-575, the road had already been built with 12 to 16 lanes, which required other plans, including via eminent domain.
State Route 13 (SR 13) is a 49.5-mile-long (79.7 km) state highway in the north-central part of the U.S. state of Georgia, that travels through portions of Fulton, DeKalb, Gwinnett, and Hall counties.
Interstate 75 (I-75) in the US state of Georgia travels north–south along the U.S. Route 41 (US 41) corridor in the central part of the state, traveling through the cities of Valdosta, Macon, and Atlanta. It is also designated—but not signed—as State Route 401 (SR 401).
Interstate 85 (I-85) is a major Interstate Highway that travels northeast–southwest in the US state of Georgia. It enters the state at the Alabama state line near West Point, and Lanett, Alabama, traveling through the Atlanta metropolitan area and to the South Carolina state line, where it crosses the Savannah River near Lake Hartwell. I-85 connects North Georgia with Montgomery, Alabama, to the southwest, and with South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia to the northeast. Within Georgia, I-85 is also designated as the unsigned State Route 403 (SR 403).
The Outer Perimeter is a freeway originally planned to encircle Atlanta, in the U.S. state of Georgia about 20 to 25 miles outside of Interstate 285, which is colloquially referred to as the Perimeter and is a point of reference for local travel outside Atlanta's city core.
In the US state of Georgia, Interstate 20 (I-20) travels from the Alabama state line to the Savannah River, which is the South Carolina state line. The highway enters the state near Tallapoosa. It travels through the Atlanta metropolitan area and exits the state in Augusta. The highway also travels through the cities of Bremen, Douglasville, Conyers, Covington, and Madison. I-20 has the unsigned state highway designation of State Route 402 (SR 402).
The Advanced Traffic Management System (ATMS) field is a primary subfield within the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) domain, and is used in the United States. The ATMS view is a top-down management perspective that integrates technology primarily to improve the flow of vehicle traffic and improve safety. Real-time traffic data from cameras, speed sensors, etc. flows into a Transportation Management Center (TMC) where it is integrated and processed, and may result in actions taken with the goal of improving traffic flow. The National ITS Architecture defines the following primary goals and metrics for ITS:
There have been multiple freeway revolts in Atlanta, Georgia. The longest and most famous examples of Interstate opposition were against I-485 and the Stone Mountain Freeway through Intown Atlanta, lasting over 30 years, from the early 1960s until the final construction of Freedom Parkway on a small portion of the contested routes in 1994.
Atlanta's transportation system is a complex infrastructure of several systems, including 47.6 miles of heavy rail, 91 bus transit routes, 1,600 licensed taxis, a comprehensive network of freeways, the world's busiest airport and over 45 miles of bike paths.
A massive fire collapsed an Interstate 85 (I-85) bridge in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, on the evening of Thursday, March 30, 2017. After the 92-foot-long (28 m) section collapsed, I-85 was closed to traffic for 43 days between its split with I-75 and the interchange with State Route 400 (SR 400) — approximately two miles (3 km). Three sections of northbound I-85 and three sections of southbound I-85 were replaced at a cost of $15 million; re-opening of the interstate was on May 12.