Fresh Loaf

It’s still two weeks away, but now’s a great time to let you know about Citizens for Progressive Transit’s “Toast to Concept3″ at Shout on Dec. 2. Festivities begin at 6:30 p.m.

The local grassroots organization that has done a lot of commendable — and breathtaking — work when it comes to encouraging public transit in metro Atlanta will host light-rail lovers and present speakers who’ll give you an update and summary of Concept3 (warning: PDF), a mobility-boosting vision conceived by the Transit Planning Board and slated for the region.

Anyone and everyone is welcome. And CfPT even provides you with directions on MARTA and a link to its A-TRAIN trip planner. If you guzzle too much, you can just ride the train on home. Genius, people!

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The Masters of Pavement will be resurfacing southbound lanes of I-75/85 this weekend — one of the busiest holiday weekends of the year — and we’re doing our part to tell you to stay the hell away from the asphalt prison during the project. Don’t go near it. If you’re in Marietta and need to get down to Clayton County for some reason, take I-285.

Why? At 9 p.m. on Friday, the DOT will close all but two lanes on I-85 southbound near its merge with I-75. At that same merge, I-75 will be reduced to one lane. Few lanes for a lot of people. The road work will continue until Tuesday morning.

Avoid, avoid, avoid. Take public transit to the many planned festivities this weekend or I-285 if you do have to get behind the wheel.

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As is the custom on Fridays here, we remind you that the DOT will resume its weekend resurfacing project on I-75/85 between 10th Street and University Avenue. This weekend the agency will close several northbound and southbound lanes, as well as exits in between. If it rains, we’re granted a reprieve, but that’ll be another weekend in the future this goes down. A full list of the exits and specific details about the project are available after the jump.

If you can, use transit to travel this weekend. Idling on the asphalt wasteland wastes gas, burns up money, and pumps disgusting bits of nasty into the air.

If you decide to brave the roads, please use caution.

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Some tips courtesy of Conserve Georgia, Gov. Sonny Perdue’s newest initiative aimed at educating Jaw-juhns of the many ways we can create a more sustainable state.

• Drive sensibly: Speeding, rapid acceleration (jackrabbit starts), and rapid braking can lower gas mileage by 33 percent at highway speeds. Drivers can save up to 80 gallons of gasoline ($302) by driving sensibly on the highway. Around town, sensible driving can save five percent, up to 30 gallons of gasoline ($113).



• Choose the right vehicle: If you own more than one vehicle, drive the one that gets better gas mileage whenever possible.

• Reduce trunk loads: An extra 100 pounds in the trunk cuts a typical vehicle’s fuel economy by up to two percent. Removing an extra 100 pounds of unneeded items from your trunk can save up to 12 gallons of gasoline per year ($45).

• Decrease speed: Gas mileage usually decreases rapidly over 60 miles-per-hour (mph). Each five mph over 60 equates to paying an additional 20 cents per gallon for gas.

• Avoid idling: Idling gets zero miles per gallon. Cars with larger engines typically waste more gas while idling than cars with smaller engines.

• Inflate your tires: Keeping tires properly inflated improves gas mileage by approximately three percent, saving up to 20 gallons of gasoline ($75).

• Tune up: Fixing a car that is noticeably out of tune or has failed an emissions test can improve its gas mileage by an average of four percent, saving up to 25 gallons of gasoline ($94). Fixing a faulty oxygen sensor can improve mileage by as much as 40 percent (saving up to 250 gallons or $945).

• Select the right oil: Using the manufacturers recommended grade of motor oil, including refined motor oil, improves gas mileage by one to two percent, an annual savings of more than $40.

These are all well and good. But like a bunch of Ritalin-fueled cleaning ladies, we can do more. From The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankenwheatley, I offer the following tips:

• Check the A-TRAIN Trip Planner, the online navigation tool that’ll literally show you the path to the city’s transit options.

• If you’re in the market for a new vehicle, buy a hybrid. Or one of those tiny, funny looking cars. The AJC says people will giggle. If you’re shy it might help you make friends. Energy-supply crunches are great ice breakers!

• If you live intown, ride a bike. If you live along transit intown but want something that’ll get to those in-between spots, think about a Segway. Or get a scooter. A co-worker here says his meep-meep machine gets 70 miles a gallon. Yes, it only has one gallon, but that’s roughly $4 a week to get him to work and back home.

“But wait, Mrs. Frankenwheatley!” a voice cries out from the smog. “Public transit doesn’t serve my area! I don’t have the money to purchase a hybrid! People throw cans at me when I ride a scooter!”

Well, then click here to find your local elected official and tell them how you feel. Be sure to ask those who are running for election as well. Tell ‘em you want tax incentives and rebates. Make it clear what you want in terms of transit. Heck, maybe you want them to drill for oil — although come on, really? But get involved. Give them your ideas and hold them accountable. And don’t forget to vote.

(Fictitious gas-station sign created at Atom Smasher)

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Google Transit, the online Goliath’s maps-merged-with-mobility program, now includes MARTA routes. Now if they’d step on it and start videotaping every inch of our sprawling region and integrating it into maps, we’d truly show people what’s real about city life. Like observing drug deals. And flashers. Or people falling off bicycles. Step on it, oi!

Citizens for Progressive Transit has its own homegrown online transit tool, too, and it’s a little easier on the eyes than Google’s. The A-TRAIN Trip Planner tells you how to get to the nearest bus stop or rail station, how long it’ll take you, what route to take, and even let you enter in how fast you want to walk or bike to get there.

(Thanks to the folks at the CfPT message board for catching this.)

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Two nights ago, I spoke with a friend in France who said that while she feels sorry for us Americans and our shock about high gas prices, the collective opinion of Europeans is “welcome to the club.” We’re finally paying the true cost of energy as they always have and — shock! — it’s a lot.

And in metro Atlanta, where decades of inaction on public transit has been almost a badge of honor for shortsighted legislators, people are realizing how woefully underfunded one of the best alternatives is now that they need it the most.

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Want to use public transit but are confused about how you’ll get to the station or stop? Give A-TRAIN a try before you throw up your hands in disgust and resort back to using your car. The new tool, developed by grassroots transportation advocacy group Citizens for Progressive Transit, evaluates routes for you based on where you’re going and how you’d like to get there. Say you want to walk to the Five Points station at 4 p.m. at a brisk pace and then take the train uptown? Or maybe you’d rather pedal like a maniac to the station? This tool will give you the best route either way. It’s a great tool from the same group that gave Atlanta the most wonderful piece of eye candy — and hope for a less auto-dependent urban lifestyle — this transit-deprived city has ever seen.

To educate folks interested in using the tool, CfPT will be conducting free A-TRAIN workshops from noon-1 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 28, at Peachtree Center Mall adjacent to the Peachtree Center MARTA station.

And when you’re done with work, head to Shout at 1197 Peachtree St. at 6 p.m. for the A-TRAIN’s launch party. Go ahead and join ‘em. They said you could come. Just don’t embarrass us and wear a shirt that says, “I HATE LIGHT-RAIL AND MULTIMODAL TRANSIT.”

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