The Problem With Atlanta

Aaron M. Renn dissects the rise and fall of Atlanta, concluding that lack of differentiation paired with no job growth will bring mean "game over" for the city.

1 minute read

November 21, 2011, 9:00 AM PST

By Tim Halbur


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.

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