Residents of Johns Creek who travel the 141 corridor have understood just how slow that ride can be.  Some people, who have read what I have written on the cost of traffic delays have asked me what can be done, other than widening 141 to six lanes?

I have, on those occasions, suggested that it’s the side roads along the 141 corridor that need a bit of widening at the interchange  rather than our entire corridor.

Here’s why:

Let’s take the intersection at the corner of Parson’s Road and 141 as our example. As configured today,  has the typical one left turn lane, one right turn lane and one through lane as many of the intersections along the corridor have.

What happens if you widen that intersection to two left turn lanes and two through lanes?  The amount of time that traffic on 141 must be stopped to accommodate handling the vehicles falls drastically.  The light on 141 then turns green sooner rather than later.  You could roughly cut the amount of time the light on 141 is red by 1/2.  That time can then be utilized by vehicles on 141 to get them moving sooner.

We have many intersections along the 141 corridor where this can occur.  This would be a much less expensive solution than widening the entire corridor to six lanes.

Why would you want to widen the 141 corridor to six lanes in each direction IF you can address the issue by merely making Fatter Intersections on the side roads?

If we want to get 141 free of the congestion we must set a priority.  That priority should be that we want the lights green on 141 as much as possible.  We can begin to accomplish that with FATTER side intersections.

If the lights are green longer on 141, then the amount of volume the road can handle increases and the odds of you getting stuck at a light fall.

Your commutes will improve drastically.

I have other ideas as well to get our traffic moving.  I’ll be adding those ideas in the near future.