The Problem With Atlanta

Renn says Atlanta also suffers from a host of infrastructure problems:

"It suffers some of the highest water and sewer rates in the nation, double those of New York City. ...The biggest infrastructure issue for Atlanta is transportation. Atlanta's freeways are among the world's widest, but this disguises the extent to which its roadway infrastructure is woefully insufficient. Atlanta has a simple beltway and spoke system similar to Indianapolis and Columbus, much smaller cities. Other big cities like Houston, Dallas, Minneapolis and Detroit have much more elaborate systems that don't rely on a single ring road, but instead webs of freeway with multiple 'crosstown' routes."

Renn also points to arterial street capacity and a lack of recent transit investment as other issues that are hurting Atlanta.