Anyway, In the months, years, decades and centuries to come I will be helping drivers throughout Atlanta with your commuter issues. If you want a better idea how that will look, check out this video called Commuter Dude promo.

And remember,  if you’ve got a fixable commuter problem, email me at commuterdude@11alive.com

Cya’ on TV…

Commuter Dude

I got an e-mail not to long ago from a guy who was wondering about some construction up in Forsyth County. Here’s what john wrote:

“What exactly is the time line for finishing road work on 141 from exit 13 on 400 to John’s Creek? It seems like they could have built this road five times by now!”

Work on the widening of Highway 141, also called Peachtree Parkway has been going on since late 2006. Today, it’s only 65 percent complete.

The Georgia Department of Transportation says slow-moving utility companies delayed the start of construction by several months. Then, the design consultant that was hired closed their Atlanta office just before the design was to be complete.

“The only good thing on this project is that we haven’t had that much rain so they’ve had a lot of work days that they might not have had,” said Teri Pope with the Georgia DOT. “The drought is good for road construction. But, we definitely had some unusual things come to play in this project.”

The project was scheduled to be completed this year. The Georgia DOT is negotiating a new completion date for that project with the contractor.

The 6.5 mile project costs over $50 million.

A HERO unit diverts traffic on I-75.

Riding with Atlanta’s HEROs can be an exhilarating experience. There are lights, sirens, and you get up close to the chaos that can be wrought on Atlanta’s highways.

But the life of a HERO is often more benign.

Marty Shirley has been a HERO, a Highway Emergency Response Operator, for years.

Shirley’s seen it all and he has a story to tell (he loves to incorporate one-liners) about almost all of his experiences on the road. He, like other HEROs has helped stranded motorists. He’s filled up gas tanks, and pushed vehicles of all sizes out of the road to clear the way.

“We can pull anything. I’ve pulled, are you ready for this? I hate to brag. Earnhardt. I pulled Earnhardt’s truck one time,” Shirley told me on a recent morning. “And the guy says: ‘That little car is going to pull this big truck?’ And I said: ‘Yes sir. It’s a Ford, not a Chevrolet.’”

But the most common calamity Shirley runs across is flat tires. We all know a flat can ruin your day. But when your spare is flat, that’s the nail in the, well, tire.

According to Shirley, forty percent of the motorists he comes across with a flat tire, also have a flat spare.

As much as a traffic jam can ruin your morning commute, two flat tires would be even worse. That’s why Shirley encourages commuters to stay on top of basic auto maintenance. “They’d rather put food on the table, gas in their car, go out clubbing or drinking than put tires on their car anyway. And then when the economic problem gets worse that’s the last thing on their mind, to fix their cars.”

Here’s a bit of advice Shirley gave me about tires:

We all know you should rotate your tires every few thousand miles. Whenever you get your tires rotated, ask the service-person to check the tire pressure in your spare tire. This only takes a few minutes, is probably free, and could save you a big headache.

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The intersection of Jonesboro Street and Griffin Street in McDonough, Georgia.

A McDonough woman e-mailed to tell me about an intersection in McDonough that really has her concerned.  At the intersection of Jonesboro Street and Griffin Street, Lorraine says things can get a pretty crazy and dangerous.

Lorraine’s e-mail pretty much sets the scene:

In all my life I have never seen an intersection as dangerous as the one downtown McDonough on the Square.

When you drive around the square, there is an intersection with a light that turns green and everybody goes at the same time…the problem is, if you want to make a left, and get into the right lane, you have to work on a guessing system.  You have to try and guess if the vehicle from the oncoming traffic is going to come over to the left lane and hit you, or make a right and you survive another day.  It is very hard to explain on paper…you really have to go downtown McDonough and drive it for yourself.  Sometimes, if I need a thrill for the day, I will drive the square…it’s just so exciting and unpredictable!  >:0(

The intersection sounded pretty interesting, so I drove down there with 11Alive Photojournalist John Samuels to check it out.  Here’s our report:

I also spoke to McDonough’s Police Chief, Preston Dorsey, about the intersection.  He told me that there has actually been a relatively low number of accidents at the intersection of Jonesboro and Griffin.  He encouraged people to heed the “Take Gap, Give Gap” signs.  He also welcomed input from the commutity on suggestions for improvements to the intersection.

That makes it a bit ironic that I have been tapped to report as the “Commuter Dude” for the past several weeks.  Maybe I’m the only one who see’s the irony.

But that being said, I really enjoy local radio.

Sure, I have my satellite radio subscription.  I also have a bunch of mp3s (legally downloaded) that are loaded onto my BlackBerry.  But, when I’m driving down the road, I enjoy hearing the familiar voices of a local DJ or talk show.

Vote for your favorite DJ or local radio show on Atlanta.Metromix.com.

Jumping on the excitement about the NCAA basketball tournament, our media partners over at Metromix have have started their own version of March Madness.  They’re matching up radio DJs and drive-time talk shows in a bracketed tournament called “Mic Madness“.

In round one, eight DJs or shows were eliminated.  Here’s who’s left standing:

• Q100’s “The Bert Show” versus Kicks 101.5’s “Caddy and Dallas”
• Q100’s Brittany versus V103’s Elle Duncan
• Rock 110.5’s “Regular Guys” versus V103’s Ryan Cameron
• 95.5 The Beat’s “Murph Dog and C.J.” versus 92.9 The River’s Kaedy Kiely

You can cast your vote for your favorite DJ or radio show on Atlanta.Metromix.com.

Janice Henck drives along Lawrenceville Highway near I-285 in Tucker all the time. She was pleased last year when crews began improving the roads.

But in the fall, construction came to a halt and the road was left seemingly unfinished. “They did work hard and it did take a long time to do it. But it just looks like for the most part it’s unpaved in a lot of areas,” Henck said on a recent morning.

While the bumps in the road may be frustrating for drivers, the Georgia Department of Transportation says there is a reason the work was stopped last fall.

Cooler temperatures prevented the final layer of asphalt from being laid. “The main reason for that is that if you put it down in too cold of a temperature it won’t last. And then you’ll have to go back and replace it. That costs extra money, extra time, it’s just more of a hassle,” said the Georgia DOT’s Mark McKinnon.

That final smooth layer of asphalt is scheduled to be put down beginning later this month. The entire project should be finished by July.

“It will get done and it will be done pretty soon,” McKinnon said.

“Good. Good to know. Thanks!” Henck said when she heard the news.

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I’ve been getting a lot of questions about this: Georgia is expected to get over $1 billion as part of President Barack Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

About $932 million will go toward highway transportation projects and about $144 million will go for public transportation.

Here’s the catch: the projects must meet some specific criteria to be eligible for the stimulus money.

To track the projects the Georgia Department of Transportation has created a special section on their website. On the website you can see a list of proposed projects and a list of projects that are eligible for stimulus funding.

You can even submit your feedback directly to the folks at the Georgia DOT.

Right now, the Georgia DOT has about $2.5 million dollars in eligible projects, but as I said earlier, only about a billion dollars to spend.

If you want to see what projects are on the “proposed list”, the “eligible list” and the “non-eligible list”, just click here.

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