Atlanta Peak Population?

[krazeeboi]

^Wow, sounds a lot like Greenville.

[bfermanich]

^ Then I mispoke, thanks for the correction. Otherwise, a majority of future land use plans indicate mostly single family housing, for exurban counties. Office parks are at times scare residents, because they have the conception that they generate more traffic.

No problem... just trying to spread the word brother

[Richhamleigh, DC]

I thought that LA's sprawl was worse than atls? am i wrong on this one?

Nope, Atlanta is the worst when it comes to sprawl.

[teshadoh]

Nope, Atlanta is the worst when it comes to sprawl.

... and again... there are a lot of rankings to measure 'sprawl', some Greenville SC is ranked first, others other sunbelt cities are ranked first. There is no quantifiable way to accurately measure sprawl, it is both a relative concept as urban is, & can be measured multiple ways. Atlanta is one of the most sprawling metro areas in the nation - certainly, but I wouldn't jump to conclusion that Atlanta is overwhelmingly the most sprawling. You do live in Charlotte after all, a great city, but it's easily NOT a dense non sprawling metro.

[roscoe97]

I think an absoulute max for Atlanta would be around 9 million. With the problems like traffic going on in the metro now how do you all see adding an additional 4 million people to the metro will effect the metro and its growth related problems?

[Newnan]

I think metro Atlanta will be able to hold more than 9 million people as the metro densifies and public transit in the suburbs becomes more of a reality. (and I do think eventually there will be mass transit all over metro Atlanta, it's just a matter of time)

-Of course, I don't think I want there to be more than 9 million people in the metro

[ironchapman]

I think metro Atlanta will be able to hold more than 9 million people as the metro densifies and public transit in the suburbs becomes more of a reality. (and I do think eventually there will be mass transit all over metro Atlanta, it's just a matter of time)

-Of course, I don't think I want there to be more than 9 million people in the metro

Like I said before in an earlier post here, Paris is able to fit 11 million (or something like that) in an area roughly the same size as Atlanta's, but I doubt we'll ever be that dense.

But why don't you want there to be more than 9 million in our metro?

[blburton]

Believe it or not, there are actually thoughts out that the whole I-85 corridor from Atlanta to Raleigh in 25-50 years will be 1 continuous drive of urban and suburban sprawl. The drive from Greensboro to Raleigh right now is already one of the most heavily traveled in NC due to explosive development in between the 2 cities. Concord, Kannapolis, Cornelius, Davidson, and Huntersville (once small towns north of Charlotte) were a good 20 minutes from the Charlotte metro. As of today, they are well within the Charlotte metro and have been rapidly growing for the past 10 years (Huntersville's pop has increased by 726% since 1990!!).

I can't speak much for South Carolina since I don't live there, but everytime I go to Atlanta (about once every 2-3 years), the drive gets shorter and shorter because so much is sprouting up.

So with all of that said.... I think that it is very possible that 50 years from now, there will be a "southern megalopolis" - a combination of the Atlanta, Greenville-Spartanburg, Charlotte, the triad (Winston-Salem, High-Point, Greensboro), and the Triangle (Raleigh-Durham) metro areas.

As far as a peak population of Atlanta... metro area will probably be 8-10 mil.

There is all that open land south of Atlanta though...tons of oppertunity for sprawl there once the north end fill up to Tenn and NC. I really dont think there is a limit to Atlantas growth..10 million can easily be met!

[krazeeboi]

I can't speak much for South Carolina since I don't live there, but everytime I go to Atlanta (about once every 2-3 years), the drive gets shorter and shorter because so much is sprouting up.

The drive indeed seems to get shorter and shorter, and Greenville's growth around the interstate helps in part to ensure that. There is still a ways to go as far as infill between Atlanta and Greenville goes, and by the time the two are anything close to being connected, I don't wanna be here.

[Hybrid0NE]

The drive indeed seems to get shorter and shorter, and Greenville's growth around the interstate helps in part to ensure that. There is still a ways to go as far as infill between Atlanta and Greenville goes, and by the time the two are anything close to being connected, I don't wanna be here.

That'll be interesting, a SC city becoming an exurb of a Georgia city. It's bad enough they lost Fort Mill and Rock Hill to North Carolina. South Carolina is going to be the New New Jersey.

[krazeeboi]

^Nah, I don't think so. Greenville and Spartanburg already have NC exurbs in a way, and pretty soon Myrtle Beach will be picking up an NC county in its metro. I think Savannah and the Beaufort/Hilton Head area will have more of a sister metro relationship, and Augusta's influence really isn't that powerful within the Aiken area. Our metros already have their own identities, whereas NYC and Philly didn't even give NJ that benefit.