Read the Replay of the HOT Lane Forum Live Blog

Patch blogged live from the HOT Lane Forum on Thursday evening. You can still join the conversation by posting your comments below.

The group Stolen Lanes is hosting a forum to discuss the I-85 HOT Lane at 7pm at the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center. Patch will be live blogging throughout the event and we're asking our readers to join in on the conversation. You can also read up on Patch's coverage of the HOT Lane controversy so far.

• Photos (1)

HOT Lane Town Hall Meeting Set for November

Stop the HOT Lane's organizers will hold a public forum next month.

In light of Monday evening's heated HOT Lane Town Hall in Buford, Stop the HOT Lane organizers announced another Town Hall for next month. The Town Hall will be held Thursday, Nov. 17, at 7 p.m. at the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center. Howard Rodgers of StopTheHotLane.com said county, state and federal officials will be on hand to answer questions at the non-partisan event. Some frustrated Gwinnett County residents called Monday's meeting "a waste of time" Grayson resident Robert Thompson told an 11Alive reporter he felt bamboozled and "it was strictly political; all they wanted to do is make political speeches." There has been much controversy since the HOT Lane opened on Oct. 1. The outrage has continued even after Governor …

• Photos (1)

Question of the Week

Should the Peach Pass Be Abolished?

The protest against the new toll express lanes has reached fever pitch. What do you think?

Since the Peach Pass took effect on Oct. 1, changing the exisisting HOV lanes into high occupancy toll lanes, there has been a lot of talk. Gov. Nathan Deal responded by lowering the HOT lane rates--and looking into changing the number of people in exempt vehicles back to two instead of three.  The Facebook protest group Against the Georgia Peach Pass now has 3,474 friends. The active discussion on the page is not the only one either. Other Peach Pass protest groups have popped up, including Peach Pass is Highway Robbery and Boycott the HOT lanes. Here are a sample of comments from Against the Georgia Peach Pass:  David Quinn writes on the page: "If I bought an iPad for 499 ...Then signed up for i-Tunes and bought content... Then got a …

•  2 Comments
• Photos (5)

Christopher Mattison

9:28 am on Wednesday, October 12, 2011

I think it ought to be removed. Unfortunately for us, we've already been paying for it. I refuse to use the HOT lane; my commute to and from Midtown for work has increased significantly since the lane began early last week. Surface street options into town aren't viable either. I've been not-so-lovingly been referring to I-85 as a #parkinglot on twitter...   more ›

I-85 HOT Lanes to Change More Than Access Rules

New entry points on I-85 South leave six-mile gap between Lawrenceville-Suwanee Road and Beaver Ruin road without an entry.

The conversion of the existing HOV lanes on I-85 to toll lanes is almost complete. But there are more changes than the access rules for many commuters. Gwinnett residents may have noticed the recent restriping of access points to the lane. Designated access and exit points are marked with a dashed double white line.  For the upcoming HOT lanes, the access and exit points are in different locations for northbound and southbound traffic. According to Teri Pope, communications officer for the Georgia Department of Transportation, the access points are: I-85 northbound HOT lane access points: ENTER the HOT lanes at:                                     EXIT the HOT lanes at:  I-85 southbound HOT lane access points:     ENTER the HOT lanes at…

• Videos (1)