Sample Evaluation
16 October 2006
An article in today’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution confirmed my own observation about Atlanta traffic: namely, that local driving commutes are becoming more difficult and more lengthy. The article, “Atlantans crank up commute times” by Ariel Hart, reports results of a study that show that since 2000, Atlanta has experienced the highest jump in commuter times in the nation, going from an average commute time of twenty-six minutes in 2000 to a current average commute of a little more than thirty-one minutes. To add insult to injury, Ariel reports, Atlanta has some of the country’s worst bottlenecks, with “the Downtown Connector and two choke points on the northern end of I-285, where it crosses I-75 and I-85.” This ranks Atlanta only second to Los Angeles, where there are five major commuting bottlenecks. The study from which these results was taken was produced by the Transportation Research Board, which Hart tells us is associated with the National Academies. As a non-profit foundation with an extremely well-proven track record of reliability, the report of the Transportation Board is worthy of attention.
While it is significant that the report confirms that Atlanta has one of the worst commutes in the country, a few other details that have emerged from the report are even more interesting. First, the report shows that more people are using telecommuting in Atlanta than are using public transportation. In fact, the number of people using public transportation in Atlanta has declined in the past six years, while the number of telecommuters has risen from 3.5% in 2000 to 4.7% in 2006. This series of number suggests two things, as I see it: first, that people are not finding public transportation a useful way to get around, and second, that by moving towards telecommuting, individuals are clearly taking matters in their own hands to come up with creative solutions.
Though it doesn’t take a report from a think tank to show how bad Atlanta’s commute is, it certainly does help to have some validation of my own experience. Driving from Grant Park to Kennesaw, I go through one of the city’s worst bottlenecks—the Downtown Connector—and have been puzzled to see how, as the state Department of Transportation continues to work on that stretch of road, it keeps becoming a harder, more hazardous drive, rather than a better one. It seems fairly clear to me that, despite the fact that transportation needs have been a subject of much discussion in the Atlanta area as far back as I can remember, our leaders are failing us in providing for the region’s very real transportation needs.
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This much text totals around 385 words. I could, of course, continue discussing this evaluative argument, but I'm going to leave to your imagination how one might extend a discussion of this topic.
An article in today’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution confirmed my own observation about Atlanta traffic: namely, that local driving commutes are becoming more difficult and more lengthy. The article, “Atlantans crank up commute times” by Ariel Hart, reports results of a study that show that since 2000, Atlanta has experienced the highest jump in commuter times in the nation, going from an average commute time of twenty-six minutes in 2000 to a current average commute of a little more than thirty-one minutes. To add insult to injury, Ariel reports, Atlanta has some of the country’s worst bottlenecks, with “the Downtown Connector and two choke points on the northern end of I-285, where it crosses I-75 and I-85.” This ranks Atlanta only second to Los Angeles, where there are five major commuting bottlenecks. The study from which these results was taken was produced by the Transportation Research Board, which Hart tells us is associated with the National Academies. As a non-profit foundation with an extremely well-proven track record of reliability, the report of the Transportation Board is worthy of attention.
While it is significant that the report confirms that Atlanta has one of the worst commutes in the country, a few other details that have emerged from the report are even more interesting. First, the report shows that more people are using telecommuting in Atlanta than are using public transportation. In fact, the number of people using public transportation in Atlanta has declined in the past six years, while the number of telecommuters has risen from 3.5% in 2000 to 4.7% in 2006. This series of number suggests two things, as I see it: first, that people are not finding public transportation a useful way to get around, and second, that by moving towards telecommuting, individuals are clearly taking matters in their own hands to come up with creative solutions.
Though it doesn’t take a report from a think tank to show how bad Atlanta’s commute is, it certainly does help to have some validation of my own experience. Driving from Grant Park to Kennesaw, I go through one of the city’s worst bottlenecks—the Downtown Connector—and have been puzzled to see how, as the state Department of Transportation continues to work on that stretch of road, it keeps becoming a harder, more hazardous drive, rather than a better one. It seems fairly clear to me that, despite the fact that transportation needs have been a subject of much discussion in the Atlanta area as far back as I can remember, our leaders are failing us in providing for the region’s very real transportation needs.
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This much text totals around 385 words. I could, of course, continue discussing this evaluative argument, but I'm going to leave to your imagination how one might extend a discussion of this topic.
posted by Michael Saunders at 9:14 AM
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