Atlanta, GA

Gridlock Guy: Atlanta traffic study shows way more than the headlines say

Published

4 weeks ago

November 9, 2025

Press Room

Gridlock Guy: Atlanta traffic study shows way more than the headlines say

Metro Atlanta

How the internet got a recent traffic study wrong and why understanding this data is important.

Automobiles travel along the I-75/I-85 connector shown from the 17th Street bridge, Tuesday, May 20, 2025, in Atlanta. (Jason Getz/AJC)

Few things in the news cycle make me more skeptical than traffic studies. And this skepticism is not normally directed at the studies themselves but how they’re interpreted.

A recent Texas A&M study grabbed headlines because of media and social media misunderstanding what it said about Atlanta. But this study is very worthwhile.

Atlanta’s traffic is some of the worst in the nation, but the delays added during an average rush hour are not as profound, the annual Texas A&M Transportation Institute Urban Mobility Report said. Some outlets confused Atlanta trends with the nationwide patterns the study found.

Thursday is now the worst traffic day in the United States, the data showed. Friday, particularly afternoons, had been the worst. Work patterns have influenced that shift, the report’s senior research scientist, David Schrank, explained.

“Because of hybrid work, we think, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday have climbed in, in the amount of delay,” Schrank said.

My anecdotal observations as a weekday traffic reporter backed this up over the last decade and certainly post-COVID: More people are taking longer weekends or choosing Monday or Friday as teleworking days.

Atlanta now has its heaviest traffic in the 4 and 5 p.m. hours on Wednesday, according to the study. (Many of the outlets that reported on the study said it was Thursday, but that was the national trend, not local.)

As for the idea that rush hours are less than they were: It’s complicated. The study shows that U.S. drivers are commuting in greater numbers and spread out over more hours. This dilutes the peaks or deltas that routine morning and afternoon drive times once held.

Some construed this finding to mean that traditional rush hours were over. That is, very simply, not true and certainly not so in Atlanta.

Metro Atlanta easily saw the most delays — measured in this study as the percentage of roads that experienced congestion — from 7 to 9 a.m. and 3 to 7 p.m. on weekdays. Sounds like rush hours, right?

But the study does show both Atlanta and many other of the 101 urban areas the institute studied have more traffic in off-peak hours. “You’re going into the office on those days, but you may not go in until after the traffic kind of quiets down a little bit,” Schrank said.

Given more information (mainly through GPS apps) and flexibility, many drivers are more productive by steering away from peak drive times. That adjustment lessens but does not eliminate the curve.

Atlanta drivers certainly are filling the roads at these off or nonpeak hours, as they sat in an average of 87 hours of delay each last year. That is the ninth-worst in the U.S., behind the staggering 137 hours that Los Angeles drivers lost.

As to how Texas A&M collects this data — Schrank said that has evolved over the 40 years of this study. Scientists used to take physical traffic counts over certain roadways and then extrapolate that data. Now, connected technology over the last 15-20 years has made the research far more voluminous and precise.

“The largest contributor (to this data) now is your automobile. Any automobile after I think it’s 2018 or something like that has the data that is being pinged up to satellites,” Schrank said, noting that people often opt in to sharing this information when they sign to buy cars. “A lot of vehicles out there every three seconds send a ping to a satellite.”

Atlanta may be ninth or 19th worst in traffic jams … or 90th. That matters very little to a single driver. The worst traffic jam in the world is the one you are in right now. And, thankfully, there are teams dedicated to trying to understand drivers’ habits — and very precisely at that.

Doug Turnbull covers the traffic/transportation beat for WXIA-TV (11Alive). His reports appear on the 11Alive Morning News from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and on 11Alive.com. Email Doug at dturnbull@11alive.com.

Doug Turnbull has covered Atlanta traffic for over 20 years.

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Atlanta, GA

NFL Week 14: Seahawks vs. Falcons 2nd half live discussion

Published

7 hours ago

December 7, 2025

Press Room

NFL Week 14: Seahawks vs. Falcons 2nd half live discussion

Time to worry about the Seattle Seahawks passing offense. Maybe the offense as a whole, but definitely the passing offense.

Sam Darnold looks shaky and threw another terrible interception. The offensive line is struggling with the Atlanta Falcons pass rush. Klint Kubiak is running the ball on 2nd and 10 but seemingly won’t run in other situations.

It’s 6-6 at halftime, mostly thanks to Jason Myers, the Seahawks defense, and Darnell Mooney having a touchdown ruled out after he stepped out of bounds and didn’t re-establish as he came back in. Seahawks get the ball out of the break. The defense has largely been fine. The offense has not, and it’s a continuing pattern.

Head to the comments section to join the conversation! Don’t be shy! We have a very active community on Field Gulls, whether here or on The FEED. You can sign up for a commenting account below and we have full-time moderators and Alaric10000 to enforce the Community Guidelines.

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Atlanta, GA

Alabama Snaps 17-Game Atlanta Win Streak: Notebook

Published

19 hours ago

December 7, 2025

Press Room

Alabama Snaps 17-Game Atlanta Win Streak: Notebook

ATLANTA — No. 9 Alabama football fell to No. 3 Georgia 28-7 in the SEC Championship on Saturday evening.

The large margin of defeat puts the Crimson Tide’s College Football Playoff hopes in jeopardy, and if the committee isn’t convinced of Alabama’s full-season resumé, Selection Sunday would eliminate UA from a spot in the 12-team field for the second consecutive season.

There were numerous reasons for Alabama’s downfall in the 2025 SEC Championship. Here are three factors that impacted the result.

The Third Down Paradox

This was Alabama’s second meeting with Georgia this year, as the Crimson Tide took the Bulldogs down 24-21 in Athens, Ga., in late September. One of the biggest takeaways from that game was that UA started the game converting all seven of its third-down attempts.

Fast forward to Saturday in Atlanta, Alabama really struggled to find the first-down marker. The Crimson Tide finish 3 of 13 on third-down attempts—a massive difference from the first game. Additionally, Simpson and company also went nearly 23 minutes without a first down at one point in this game.

Converting third downs was one of Simpson’s top keys to success from this past Monday, but the Crimson Tide’s failure in this stat category played a big part in determining the outcome.

“We’re just one or two things away from having a big play,” Simpson said. “I think credit to Georgia’s defense, they did a good job. We just got to make the easy things easy. I felt like to be good on third down, we got to be better on first and second down.”

Key Pregame Loss Impacts Blocked Punt

Alabama football released its initial availability report on Wednesday evening ahead of the SEC Championship game in Atlanta, and there was a surprising name listed.

Crimson Tide BANDIT LT Overton was listed as “out” for Saturday’s game against Georgia due to an illness. Overton plays a role on punt coverage, and his absence led to a blocked punt in the first quarter. Four plays and 21 yards later, Georgia would open the scoring and the Bulldogs had the momentum from then on.

“I can tell you exactly what happened [on the blocked punt],” DeBoer said during the postgame press conference. “We got a new face in the spot. Obviously that’s LT Overton’s position. Just tell you what it is. There’s a check we got to make. You got a new face in that spot. That’s what happened.

“Again, getting guys more reps, getting guys back out there makes a big deal. I don’t fault our guys that were in that spot, doing everything they can. But there’s a check we got to make, one we make all season long. We missed it. They got an extra hat that we couldn’t block.”

Alabama Would Look ‘Considerably Different’ Without Injuries

Alabama came into Saturday a bit banged up, as eight players didn’t suit up. Crimson Tide running back Jam Miller and tight end Josh Cuevas missed this game, and left guard Kam Dewberry was dressed but didn’t see action on the field.

In addition to these three and the aforementioned LT Overton, Alabama had few more players not fully healthy, and DeBoer listed them off.

“You talk about Parker Brailsford, who if you give these guys two weeks to get ready, what the health will look like for these guys, Parker Brailsford, Germ [Bernard], Daniel Hill, I’m not saying what he’s playing through, but two weeks, it will be a different Daniel Hill, okay?

You execute or you have a lack of execution in games because you probably didn’t have everyone out there working together in practice. So Dewberry will be back, 100 percent, I mean, he was at the end of the week. Geno [VanDeMark] would be back. He got taken out of the game there. He’ll be back. I can keep going on down the line.

More reps for our other running backs. Fully expect to have Jam back. Two of our three losses are when Jam doesn’t play. Really not a chance that he felt like he could play today. He’s not that far away. It’s not the one, to me, injury that keeps you out, holds you back. Even a chance to — could be tight, but a chance even Kevin Riley. That might be a little bit tight, just to be real with you.

“There’s a lot of guys. I think that’s what it really comes down to, is playing with their guys. We got into this game today. The execution just wasn’t quite as crisp. There’s usually a reason for that. Again, defensively the same thing. Kelby Collins, LT, Z.B. (Zabien Brown) in the game today dinged up. Dijon a little bit before the game with an evaluation we had where we had to hold off.

“All those guys in two weeks, considerably different football team, the one you would have seen earlier in the season.”

TideBits

Alabama only lost one game by more than two scores in the entire Nick Saban era over 17 seasons (44-16 loss to Clemson in CFP title). Alabama has lost a game by 21 points in both of Kalen DeBoer’s first two seasons: 2024 Oklahoma (24-3), tonight to Georgia (28-7).

Alabama had won nine of its last 10 games against Georgia coming into Saturday. This includes the last four in Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Former Alabama linebacker C.J. Mosley was honored before the game as part of the 2025 SEC Legends Class. The 5-time Pro Bowler retired from the NFL on June 19 after 11 years. While at Alabama, Mosley was a two-time BCS National Champion, two-time Consensus All-American and two-time First Team All-SEC member (all in 2012 and 2013). Mosley also earned both the Butkus Award (best linebacker) and the SEC Defensive Player of the Year award in 2013.

Announced attendance was 77,247

Alabama Captains: quarterback Ty Simpson, center Parker Brailsford, defensive tackle Tim Keenan III and linebacker Deontae Lawson.

Officials:

Referee: Daniel Gautreaux
Umpire: Walt Hill
Referee: Daniel Gautreaux
Head Linesman: Carl Giola
Line Judge: Jeremiah Harris
Back Judge: Peter Buchanan
Field Judge: Phillip Davenport
Side Judge: Victor Sanchez
Center Judge: Marc Curles
Replay Official: David Almand

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Atlanta, GA

Santa “Paws” offers professional portraits for pups

Published

1 day ago

December 6, 2025

Press Room

Santa “Paws” offers professional portraits for pups

Georgia Emergency Search and Rescue held a fundraiser at Coolray Field in Lawrenceville where dogs and their pet parents could get a professional photo with Santa, courtesy of Magnolia Grace Photography. FOX LOCAL’s Kaitlyn Pratt brings Judayah Murray a live look from the event.

Posted December 6, 2025 1:59pm EST

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