Atlanta Metropolitan Area

Information about Atlanta Metropolitan Area

Atlanta Metropolitan Area
Enlarge picture
Map of the Metro Atlanta

Common name: Metro Atlanta
Largest city
Other cities		Atlanta
 - Sandy Springs
 - Roswell
 - Marietta
Population Ranked 9th in the U.S.
 - Total5,478,667 (2006 est.)[1]
 - Density562/sq. mi. 
217/km
Area8,376 sq. mi.
21,694 km
State(s) Georgia
Elevation  
 - Highest point1808 feet (551 m)
 - Lowest pointN/A feet (N/A m)


The Atlanta metropolitan area, commonly referred to as metro Atlanta in Georgia, is the ninth-largest metropolitan area in the United States and consists of up to 28 counties in Georgia. According to the 2000 Census, the metropolitan area had a population of 4,247,981, though the 2006 Census estimate shows 5,478,667 people living in the area. According to the 2006 population estimates, the 28-county Atlanta metropolitan area is currently the fastest-growing metropolitan area in the United States based on numerical gains. The city of Atlanta is only the 35th-largest city in the country, largely due to the area's patterns of urban sprawl and the city's inability to annex as have such cities as Charlotte, San Diego, and Phoenix. Atlanta's combined statistical area, or CSA, had a population in 2000 of 4,584,234. As of July 1, 2006 the population of the CSA is estimated to be 5,478,667.

According to the ranking of world cities undertaken by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group & Network and based on the level of presence of global corporate service organizations, Atlanta is considered a "Gamma World City."

Counties

It is important to note that only the U.S. Census Bureau considers all of the above counties to be a part of the metro area. In reality, the smallest counties (Butts, Dawson, Lamar, Heard, Jasper, Pike, Pickens, Meriwether) are much too far away and are much too rural to be realistically considered "metropolitan". Other couties (Hall, Carroll) are also quite far but have higher populations due to existing cities rather than suburbanization by the metro area. What does constitute the metro area has always been debatable due to erratic sprawl, but always includes the five core counties: Fulton, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Cobb, and Clayton. Remaining counties are usually part suburban nearer the city and part rural further out, and so are often called exurban. Additionally, the Athens area is part of the Atlanta media market, but is considered a separate mini-metro region.

Municipalities

Anchor city

Edge cities

Major suburbs

These are communities with more than 10,000 inhabitants within their city limits or CDP boundary.

Minor suburbs

These are communities with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants.

Exurban communities

These are far-out communities with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants.

Government and politics

Georgia has the smallest average county size of any state which operates county governments. This focuses government more locally but allows greater conflict between jurisdictions. The first significant intergovernmental agency in metro Atlanta was the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, which runs the MARTA public transportation system. Alongside other factors, problems associated with the inner city of Atlanta (crime, poverty, racism, poor public school performance, etc) influenced Cobb, Gwinnett, and Clayton county voters to refuse MARTA into their respective counties during the 1970s, decisions which have permanently altered the region-wide transportation network and community demographic ever since.

The Atlanta Regional Commission is so far the closest that the area has come to a metropolitan government. It only approves projects deemed to have an impact beyond the immediate area in which they are placed. The Georgia Regional Transportation Authority is somewhat of a cross between ARC and MARTA, searching mainly for alternative transportation such as buses and trains. GRTA also operates XPress buses from counties that have otherwise refused to join in public transport initiatives, and could operate commuter rail service in the future.

There has been increased interest in the past few months about creating a regional government to coordinate efforts among local governments, especially regarding metro transportation.([2]

Despite meeting in Atlanta, on land donated to it by the city for the Georgia State Capitol, the Georgia General Assembly has often been at odds with the city. During the mid-2000s, the legislature voted to force Atlanta to abandon its living wage law. It also tried to vote against the city's tree-protection ordinance, a move which which would have allowed any tree in Georgia to be destroyed for any reason had it passed. Funding formulas for roads have also been skewed toward rural legislators' political districts, particularly the Governor's Road Improvement Plan (GRIP), which encouraged divided highways even in places where they were not justified by actual or projected traffic. This, combined with a state constitution which prohibits motor fuel taxes from being used on anything other than roads (including on public transportation that eases traffic on those roads) has left the metro area in a very difficult situation when it comes to transportation.

Transportation

Rail

Before Atlanta was even a city, it was a railroad hub. From this came the saying that regardless of whether one goes to heaven or hell, everyone must go through Atlanta first. Many of its suburbs pre-date it as depots or train stations along the major lines in and out of town. Through mergers, the main railroads in the area are now Norfolk Southern and CSX. The Georgia Northeastern Railroad is a short line that also services part of the area.

Air

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is the international airport for the region, and as with rail travel, it became the ubiquitous place through which everyone must travel at some point. Other airports include Charlie Brown Field, McCollum Field, Cartersville Airport, DeKalb Peachtree Airport, Briscoe Field, and the Henry County Airport. Atlanta's second airport is in the very preliminary discussion and study phase.

Local roads

There are many historic roads across the area, named after its mills and early ferries, and the bridges later built to replace the ferries. Pace's Ferry is perhaps the best known.

Owing to the area's long history of settlement (unlike Las Vegas, for example) and uneven terrain, most arterial roads are not straight, and instead curve around. This can be confusing for visitors, much more so than the famed proliferation of Atlanta city streets with "Peachtree" in the name.

The region maintains the nomenclature of each county naming its roads for the towns they connect with in sourrounding counties. Thus, from Dallas to Roswell, Georgia 120 is Marietta Highway to the Paulding/Cobb county line, Dallas Highway to the city of Marietta, Whitlock Avenue to the town square, South Park Square for just one city block, Roswell Street to Cobb Parkway (at the Big Chicken), Roswell Road to the Cobb/Fulton county line, and finally Marietta Street to the town square in Roswell.

There are many roads like this throughout the area, leading to duplication of names in different counties. In Fulton, "Roswell Road" refers to Georgia 9 through northern Atlanta and across Sandy Springs, in addition to the above-mentioned use in Cobb, for example. Numeric street addressing is done by county as well, with the origin usually being at one corner of the town square in the county seat. The U.S. Postal Service ignores these actual and logical boundaries however, overlapping ZIP codes and their associated place names across counties. The Cumberland/Galleria area has Cobb's numbers and an "SE" suffix, but is called "Atlanta" by the USPS, which can confuse visitors to think it is far away in southeast Atlanta.

Where more than one town in the same county has a road to the same place, the smaller towns have their own name prefixed to it, while the county seat does not. The road need not go directly to the other place, but may connect through other roads. Examples include Due West Road west from Marietta, Kennesaw Due West Road southwest from Kennesaw, and Acworth Due West Road south from Acworth. Some are usually hyphenated, like Peachtree-Dunwoody Road, Ashford-Dunwoody Road, Chamblee-Dunwoody Road, and Chamblee-Tucker Road.

There are also several roads named for communities which have been overwhelmed by the urban and suburban sprawl, and so are usually not recognized by newcomers. These include Sandy Plains, Crabapple, Toonigh, Ashford, and Due West. Some of these communities are in the middle of the road, while some are at or very near one end. Some places get renamed, either over time (Sandy Plains gradually became "Sprayberry" when Sprayberry High School moved there and similarly-named shopping centers popped up around it), by the USPS (Toonigh is identified as "Lebanon"), or by new suburbanites who don't think the existing name is good enough (Hog Mountain is now "Hamilton Mill". In this case, the roads usually maintain their names even if the places do not.

Several of these roads have become arterials, while others remain pleasant two-lane drives. Many are state roads as well, though GDOT has the habit of moving numbered routes onto other roads, sometimes arbitrarily, and occasionally sending them through an entirely different town. State highway numbers also tend to curve around arbitrarily while their directional signs do not, rendering them useless where they indicate "north" and "south" in places the road goes east and west. There are also a few U.S. highways that cross the area, including 19, 23, 41, and 78.

Other arterials are completely new, like much of Barrett Parkway and South Fulton Parkway, both constructed by their counties but partly covered with a state route number. Occasionally, roads are realigned or extended to meet each other directly at a cross-road, leading to odd curves and name changes.

Freeways

Metro Atlanta is served by six major interstate highway routes to and from the city. I-75 is the busiest and carries a great deal of truck traffic, running south-southeast to Macon and onward to Florida and northwest to Chattanooga (and I-575 to Canton). I-85 runs southwest to Auburn and Montgomery (and I-185 to Columbus), and northeast to Greenville/Spartanburg and Charlotte (and I-985 to Gainesville). I-20 runs east to Augusta and Columbia, and west to Anniston and Birmingham.

I-285 encircles the city, and is called the Perimeter. I-75/85 is joined through downtown Atlanta, called the Downtown Connector. I-675 joins I-75 in the south metro to the southeastern end of I-285. Georgia 400 runs north to Alpharetta, then somewhat northeast to Dahlonega in the mountains. The GDOT had originally planned to connect 400 and 675 as I-475, but this was cancelled, as was east-west Interstate 420 and Interstate 485

Currently, I-75 is 15 lanes wide north of the Windy Hill Road interchange (8 northbound, 7 southbound), and as such, is the widest freeway in the United States. The Northwest Corridor HOV/BRT project from GRTA aims to add HOV lanes to I-75 and I-575 for cars and BRT, adding new lanes and exits, as well as lanes for tractor-trailers only. The project plans to expand the freeway from I-285 northward to the Wade Green Road interchange, making it to 26 lanes (13 lanes each both northbound and southbound) at Windy Hill. Construction costs for the project are expected to be about 10 billion dollars and it should take about 15 years to complete. Hundreds of homes and businesses would be taken for the project.

The intersection of I-285 and Georgia 400 (a freeway running from Atlanta to Cumming and Dahlonega) is slated to become the biggest stack interchange in the world, which will encompass collector-distributor lanes, as well as 130-foot (40m) flyover lanes, from 285 to 400, and from 400 to 285. Construction costs are expected to be around 2 billion dollars.

Rapid transit

Although Atlanta has always been a railroad town, and the city once had an extenive streetcar system as far out as Marietta (about 15 miles or 25km northwest), modern rapid transit has been an exceedingly difficult and drawn-out process, putting the metro area well-behind comparable cities.

MARTA operates rapid transit in Fulton and Dekalb counties, while Gwinnett, Cobb, and Clayton counties operate their own buses with no current rail transit. This is a result of those counties refusal to join the MARTA system, a situation which was originally closely related to white flight from the city. It is the only U.S. system in which the state fails to provide any funds for operation or expansion, instead relying entirely on a 1% sales tax.

Plans are underway for commuter rail and bus rapid transit (BRT), though these are some years away. The first commuter rail line would run south of the city, eventually extended to Lovejoy and possibly Hampton near Atlanta Motor Speedway. This project took two decades under Democrats, and has now been threatened by some Republicans in the Georgia General Assembly as being "wasteful", despite being successful in every other U.S. city that has it. The "Brain Train" would likely be the second route, connecting the University of Georgia in Athens to Emory University and Georgia Tech in Atlanta.

As planned, all commuter trains would arrive at the Atlanta Multimodal Passenger Terminal, the long-delayed facility just across Peachtree Street from the Five Points MARTA station, where all of its lines meet. The planning for the system, and its extension as intercity rail across the state, is the responsibility of the Georgia Rail Passenger Authority.

Business and commerce

Communications

The area is the world's largest toll-free calling zone and has three telephone area codes. 404, which originally covered all of northern Georgia until 1992, now covers mostly the area inside the Perimeter (Interstate 285). In 1995, the suburbs were put into 770, and 678 was overlaid onto both in 1998, requiring mandatory ten-digit dialing even for local calls under FCC rules. Cellphones, originally only 404, may now have any local area code regardless of where in the region they were issued. Confusingly, 470 will be the next area code, overlaid as was 678.

Atlanta enjoys the world's biggest fiber optic bundle, and was America's first city to employ ten-digit dialing, which was begun by BellSouth right before the Centennial 1996 Olympic Games came to Atlanta.

Major fiber-optic lines and petroleum and natural gas pipelines cross the area, running from the Gulf coast, Texas, and Louisiana to the population centers of the northeastern U.S.

Retail centers

Atlanta is a city known in the South for its many shopping areas. The Atlanta area is home to one of the South's largest shopping malls, the Mall of Georgia, which is located in nearby Gwinnett County.

The other larger shopping establishments in Metro Atlanta include: Lenox Square hosts the largest fireworks display in the Southeast every Independence Day, a major tradition in Atlanta.

Retailers

The major supermarkets in the area are long-time Kroger, and since the 1990s, Publix. Previously, this also included Winn-Dixie (later SaveRite), A&P, Big Star, Cub Foods, and Food Lion. Food Depot is a recent startup, with only a few locations. Ingles has a few locations in the far suburbs, mainly because sprawl has come out to meet them, rather than actively trying to enter the market.

Drugstores include Rite-Aid (still converting from Eckerd Drug), CVS/pharmacy, and since the 2000s, Walgreens. While all Walgreens are new, Eckerd was composed of several of its own stores, in addition to Treasury Drug and local chain Dunaway Drugs. CVS is composed of what was Reed Drug in the 1980s, later Big B Drugs, and briefly Revco. Drug Emporium was present for several years, while fellow superstore Phar-Mor had only a brief run.

Century-old Atlanta furniture store Rhodes Furniture (see Rhodes Hall) went bankrupt, with most stores later reopening as Broyhill Furniture. It competes against Ashley Furniture, Thomasville Furniture, Bassett Furniture, and Rooms To Go. Roberds is another closed retail chain, which also sold home appliances.

Circuit City no longer sells appliances, but Best Buy does. Since the mid-2000s, hhgregg has entered the market, selling appliances, electronics (but no computers, except notebooks), and beds, similar to Roberds. Service Merchandise also had stores in the area prior to their bankruptcy, and Lechmere was around for only a few years.

The Home Depot, started and based in metro Atlanta, has stores across the area. Lowe's closed its mid-size stores, but returned a few years later with the superstores now located across the street from many Home Depots. Both sell appliances, while several Ace Hardware stores hold their ground, concentrating on being traditional hardware stores.

Rich's and Davison's, both the major names in Atlanta-area department stores, succumbed to parent Macy's after well over a century in business. JC Penney and Sears have been in Atlanta for decades. Parisian was around for a decade or so before being bought by Belk, which has a well-established name outside the metro area. The Rich's Great Tree has been a major local Christmas tradition since the 1940s, with its grand illumination ceremony every Thanksgiving.

Natural features

Geography and geology

The area sprawls across the low foothills of the Appalachian Mountains to the north and the piedmont to the south. The northern and some western suburbs tend to be higher and significantly more hilly than the southern and eastern suburbs.

The highest point in the immediate area is Kennesaw Mountain, followed by Sweat Mountain, Stone Mountain, and Little Kennesaw Mountain. Others include Blackjack Mountain, Lost Mountain, Brushy Mountain, Pine Mountain, and Mount Wilkinson (Vinings Mountain). Many of these play prominently in the various battles of the Atlanta Campaign during the American Civil War. If the further-north counties are included, Bear Mountain is highest, followed by Pine Log Mountain, Sawnee Mountain, and Hanging Mountain, followed by the others listed above.

An extinct fault line called the Brevard Fault runs roughly parallel to the Chattahoochee River, but its last movements were apparently prehistoric, thus it is considered extinct and not a threat to the region. Still, minor earthquakes do rattle the area occasionally, the last one in April 2003 coming from the northwest, its epicenter just across the state line in northeastern Alabama. While many people slept through the 5AM quake, it caused a minor panic in others completely unaware of what was happening. A magnitude 4.6 such as this occurs about every 30 to 40 years in the region, and is often felt much more widely across the stronger crust of eastern North America as compared to the west. Because of this, the Great Charleston Earthquake of 1886 was also felt in Atlanta, and across the Southeast.

The area's subsoil is a dense clay soil, colored rusty by the iron oxide present in it. It becomes very muddy and sticky when wet, and hard when dry, and stains light-colored carpets and clothing easily. It also tends to have a low pH, further aggravating gardeners. The fineness of it also means it is easily deposited into streams during heavy rains, creating silt problems where it is exposed due to construction. This transported red soil can be seen downstream on the riverbanks of south Georgia (where the native clay is white), and down to the Florida panhandle (where the native sand is also white). Topsoil is present only in natural forest areas, created by the decomposition of leaves.

Weather and climate

Atlanta has a humid subtropical climate with four distinct seasons. January daily lows average around 33°F (1°C) and highs average near 52°F (11°C), but often reach 70-75°F (21-24°C). Snow is uncommon, with an average annual snowfall of about 2.1 inches (5 cm), falling mostly in January and early February. Summers, by contrast, are consistently hot and humid, with July mornings averaging 71°F (22°C) and afternoons averaging 89°F (32°C), slight breezes, and typically a 20-30% chance of afternoon thunderstorms. During the summer afternoon thunderstorms, temperatures may suddenly drop to 70-75 degrees with locally heavy rainfall. Average annual rainfall is about 50.2 inches (1370 mm), with late winter and early spring (as well as July) being the wettest and fall (especially October) being the driest. Despite having far fewer rainy days, average yearly rainfall is higher here than in the Seattle area, especially due to heavy thunderstorms and occasional tropical depressions.

Spring weather is pleasant but variable, as cold fronts often bring strong or severe thunderstorms to almost all of the eastern and central U.S. Pollen counts tend to be extraordinarily high in the spring, regularly exceeding 2000 particles per cubic meter in April and causing hay fever. Pine pollen leaves a fine yellow-green film on everything for much of that month. The rain helps wash out Atlanta's abundant oak, pine, and grass pollens, and fuels beautiful blooms from native flowering dogwood trees, as well as azaleas, forsythias, magnolias, and peach trees (both flowering-only and fruiting). The city-wide floral display runs during March and April, and inspires the Dogwood Festival, one of Atlanta's largest. Fall is also pleasant, with less rain and fewer storms, lower humidity, and leaves changing color from late October to mid-November, especially during drier (but not severely dry) years.

The area's geography affects the weather as well. An anticyclone over the Northeastern U.S. will blow cold air over the warmer Atlantic Ocean, forming a wedge or marine layer up against the mountains. This east or northeast wind will often blow down into the metro area in winter or even spring (sometimes fall and very rarely summer), dramatically lowering the temperature and bringing clouds and often fog or mist, along with a swift breeze. The temperature gradient across the sprawling metro Atlanta can be as much as 20°F or 10°C, occasionally even more. In winter this can be a curse, bringing freezing rain to exposed objects on the north and/or east sides of town, and occasionally very dangerously to the ground and roads. Later in the spring however, it can be a great blessing, as it often protects the area from severe thunderstorms and tornadoes, with the cool air acting like a fire extinguisher to the storms. The wedge may occasionally go the entire way through central Georgia and even into Alabama in the strongest conditions, while still leaving areas to the northwest much warmer than the metro area.

The local geography also plays a role in the day-to-day weather, with the shallow valleys to the southwest (rather than the mountains to the northeast) cooling rapidly on clear and calm nights, particularly when the humidity is low. Peachtree City and especially Newnan often report dramatically lower temperatures (by as much as 10°C or nearly 20°F) on the 10PM and 11PM news, and will not drop much further, while the city (built on a ridge) will continue falling slowly but never reach that low. This type of dramatic difference in microclimate is somewhat unusual for a place not near large mountains or bodies of water.

Major weather events

The highest recorded temperatures at Atlanta were 105°F (41°C) on three days in the extraordinarily-hot July 1980, followed by 104°F (40°C) that month and in August 2007, the hottest month ever for the area. The lowest recorded temperatures were -6°F (-21°C) and -8°F (-22°C) on January 20 and 21 of 1985, and -9°F (-23°C) on February 13 of 1899. There was also an official record of -10°F (-23°C) in 1985 in Marietta. The rainiest month ever was July of 1994, when Tropical Storm Alberto dumped massive amounts of rain on parts of the state and the south metro area, bringing 17.71 inches or 450mm at Atlanta, over three times a normal July. Flooding was a major problem in those areas, and further down-state it was disastrous.

Hurricane Opal brought sustained tropical storm conditions to the area one night in early October 1995, uprooting hundreds of trees and causing widespread power outages, after soaking the area with rain for two days prior. The western metro area caught the worst of the storm, gusting to nearly 70 MPH (just over 110km/h) officially at Marietta. Such events are very rare so far inland.

Since 1950, some metro counties have been hit more than 20 times, with Cobb (26) and Fulton (22) being two of the highest in the state. (Note that some tornados may have occurred at the same time, or in two different counties.) The Dunwoody tornado in early April 1998 was the worst tornado to have struck the area. Since then, many counties have reinstalled civil defense sirens removed after the Cold War.

A blizzard (see: 1993 North American Storm Complex) caught much of the Southeast off-guard in 1993, dumping four inches (10cm) at the Atlanta airport on March 13, about twice that in the northern suburbs, and many times that in the mountains. Some people were awakened by thunder and lightning in a very rare thundersnow event. The only other recorded winter storm of comparable severity was in February 1899. Several areas of northern Cobb County recorded over 15 inches of snow in snowdrifts. It is widely regarded as the snow event of the century for Atlanta, and is referred to as the "Storm of the Century". The heaviest snow, however, was in January 1940, when eight inches (20cm) buried the city during its coldest month on record.

The most recent major snow occurred at the beginning of 2002, when up to three inches (7.5cm) fell on January 2-3. As of 2007, the stretch of five nearly or entirely snowless winters makes for an extremely long period compared to average.

As of October 2007 a severe drought is affecting the region, and is getting worse. The Southeastern U.S. drought of 2007 actually began with dry weather in 2006, and has left area lakes very low. Most of the area's drinking water is stored in Lake Lanier and Lake Allatoona, and the USACE expects that they may reach record low levels by December 2007. Up through September 2007, it is the driest year on record in over 75 years, second only to 1927 and 1931. On September 28th, the state issued a total outdoor watering ban for the north and northwestern 40% or so of the state, affecting 61 of 159 counties generally north of the Fall Line. Local authorities and water systems had already taken such measures in some places. It is the first time the state has stepped-in with a ban.

Environment and ecology

The area's prolific rains are drained by many different streams and creeks. The main basin is that of the Chattahoochee River, running northeast to southwest. The further northwestern suburbs drain into the Etowah River via the Little River and Lake Allatoona. The southern suburbs are drained by the Flint River, and the east-southeastern ones by the Oconee River and Yellow River. By 2005, the metro area was using 360 million gallons of water per day (about 80 gallons per person per day).

The massive deforestation brought by excessive land development has had a significant impact on area watersheds. They now flood far more rapidly and to a much greater extent than prior to development. This has pushed many people into flood plains, something they often find out only when it is too late. A very few jurisdictions have begun to implement a stormwater fee, though the fees are not yet based on the actual amount of damaging runoff each property produces, mainly from pavement and lack of tree cover and natural leaf litter.

Since clear-cutting now removes all of the trees, lawns are planted instead. These allow much more runoff during rains, and require much more water during drought, generally using drinking water from the municipal supply since Georgia and its local governments have no recycling requirements. Runoff also includes harmful chemicals such as fertilizers and pesticides unnecessary for native vegetation.

WXIA-TV reported that from 1990 to 2005, the amount of impermeable surface (pavement and buildings) in several metro counties increased dramatically, with Cobb doubling from 10% to 20% of its total land area, a rate even faster than its population increase. These numbers are in addition to the only marginally-permeable lawns. This reduced permeability prevents the water table from refilling as quickly as it should.

Disputes over water are becoming increasingly common, with both Alabama and Florida threatening lawsuits and injunctions to prevent Georgia from taking too much water, mostly for metro Atlanta. South Carolina also threatened when a pipeline east to the Savannah River was mentioned even informally.

Flora

The native forest canopy is mainly oak, hickory, tuliptree, and pine, with some sweetgum, particularly on the southside. Underneath, the flowering dogwood is very common, and the black cherry is quite prolific, with mulberry popping up sometimes as well. Sourwood is also in its native range, but is uncommon and is only easily identified by the fact that it turns fiery red in early October, much brighter and weeks earlier than most other trees (which usually peak in early to middle November). Shrubby plants include blackberry, horsechestnut, sumac, and sometimes hawthorn. Virginia creeper, poison ivy, and briar are common vines. The Confederate Yellow Daisy is a wildflower native only to the area around Stone Mountain.

Common garden plants include dogwood, azalea, hydrangea, maples, pin oak, redtip photinia, holly, juniper, white pine, magnolia, Bradford pear, forsythia, liriope (mondograss) and English ivy. Lawns can be either cool-season grasses like fescue and rye, or warm-season like zoysia and bermudagrass which turn brown in late fall. A few homeowners associations actually prohibit green grass in the winter.

Common lawn weeds are wild strawberry, violet, wild onion, and of course the ubiquitous dandelion, crabgrass, and plantain.

By far the most notorious introduced species is kudzu, a highly invasive species from Japan which climbs and smothers trees and shrubs. Wisteria has also escaped in some places, and Japanese honeysuckle is quite common. Chinese Privet has surpassed all these as the most invasive non-native, yet it is still sold as a garden plant. [3] Georgia apparently has no laws requiring landowners to control these plants, and no programs to help in their control, which allows them to continue to spread.

Fauna

Among mammals, the eastern gray squirrel is by far the most ubiquitous, stealing birdseed from the bird feeders which many locals put up. Chipmunks and small brown rabbits are common, but it is relatively rare to hear of them doing any damage. Opossum, raccoons, foxes, and now even small coyotes are sometimes found, especially where the habitat destruction of new development has forced them out. Snakes are rare, but tree frogs are easily heard in early summer. Black bears occasionally wander down from the mountains, and white-tailed deer are seen is some areas not overwhelmed by dense development.

The most common birds are the American Crow, European (or Common) Starling, House Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Purple Finch, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Blue Jay, Nuthatch, and American Kestrel. Late in the year, owls can be heard in wooded areas at night. Various woodpeckers can be seen in forested lots, including the Red-headed Woodpecker, Northern Flicker (also known as the "red-shafted flicker"), Downy Woodpecker and occasionally others. The American Goldfinch is present in winter, and the Ruby-throated Hummingbird in summer.

See also

 •  • [ e]
Atlanta Metropolitan Area
Central CityAtlanta
Enlarge picture
Map of the Atlanta Metropolitan area
Largest cities
(over 20,000 in 2000)		Alpharetta • Candler-McAfee (CDP) • College Park • Douglasville • Duluth • Dunwoody (CDP) • East Point • Forest Park • Gainesville • Griffin • Johns Creek • Kennesaw • Lawrenceville • Mableton (CDP) • Marietta • North Atlanta (CDP) • Peachtree City • Redan (CDP) • Roswell • Sandy Springs • Smyrna • Stockbridge • Tucker (CDP)
Largest towns and villages
(over 10,000 in 2000)		Acworth • Belevedere Park • Buford • Carrollton • Cartersville • Conyers • Covington • Decatur • Druid Hills • Fayetteville • Lilburn • Milton • Monroe • Mountain Park, Gwinnett County • Newnan • North Decatur (CDP) • North Druid Hills • Panthersville • Powder Springs • Riverdale • Snellville • Sugar Hill • Union City • Winder • Woodstock
CountiesFulton • Gwinnett • DeKalb • Cobb • Clayton • Cherokee • Henry • Forsyth • Douglas • Paulding • Coweta • Carroll • Fayette • Bartow • Newton • Rockdale • Hall • Walton • Spalding • Barrow • Pickens • Haralson • Meriwether • Butts • Dawson • Lamar • Pike • Jasper • Heard
 •  • [ e]
The City of Atlanta
History • Geography • Culture • Economy • Education • Colleges and Universities • Transportation • Crime and Social Issues • Attractions • Neighborhoods • Metopolitan area
 •  • [ e]
State of Georgia
Atlanta (capital)
Geology | History | Governors | People | Music | Politics | Geography | Demographics | Economy | Sports
Regions Atlantic Coastal Plain | Blue Ridge | Colonial Coast | Cumberland Plateau | The Golden Isles | Historic South | Inland Empire | Metro Atlanta | Middle Georgia | North Georgia Mountains | Piedmont | Ridge and Valley | Sea Islands | Southern Rivers | Tennessee Valley | Wiregrass Region
Largest cities Albany | Atlanta | Athens-Clarke County | Augusta | Columbus | Johns Creek | Macon | Marietta | Roswell | Sandy Springs | Savannah | Warner Robins
Counties Appling | Atkinson | Bacon | Baker | Baldwin | Banks | Barrow | Bartow | Ben Hill | Berrien | Bibb | Bleckley | Brantley | Brooks | Bryan | Bulloch | Burke | Butts | Calhoun | Camden | Candler | Carroll | Catoosa | Charlton | Chatham | Chattahoochee | Chattooga | Cherokee | Clarke | Clay | Clayton | Clinch | Cobb | Coffee | Colquitt | Columbia | Cook | Coweta | Crawford | Crisp | Dade | Dawson | Decatur | DeKalb | Dodge | Dooly | Dougherty | Douglas | Early | Echols | Effingham | Elbert | Emanuel | Evans | Fannin | Fayette | Floyd | Forsyth | Franklin | Fulton | Gilmer | Glascock | Glynn | Gordon | Grady | Greene | Gwinnett | Habersham | Hall | Hancock | Haralson | Harris | Hart | Heard | Henry | Houston | Irwin | Jackson | Jasper | Jeff Davis | Jefferson | Jenkins | Johnson | Jones | Lamar | Lanier | Laurens | Lee | Liberty | Lincoln | Long | Lowndes | Lumpkin | Macon | Madison | Marion | McDuffie | McIntosh | Meriwether | Miller | Mitchell | Monroe | Montgomery | Morgan | Murray | Muscogee | Newton | Oconee | Oglethorpe | Paulding | Peach | Pickens | Pierce | Pike | Polk | Pulaski | Putnam | Quitman | Rabun | Randolph | Richmond | Rockdale | Schley | Screven | Seminole | Spalding | Stephens | Stewart | Sumter | Talbot | Taliaferro | Tattnall | Taylor | Telfair | Terrell | Thomas | Tift | Toombs | Towns | Treutlen | Troup | Turner | Twiggs | Union | Upson | Walker | Walton | Ware | Warren | Washington | Wayne | Webster | Wheeler | White | Whitfield | Wilcox | Wilkes | Wilkinson | Worth | Campbell | Milton
Atlanta, Georgia
Downtown Atlanta

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Nickname: Hotlanta,[1] The A-T-L[1]
Location in Fulton and DeKalb counties and the state of Georgia
Coordinates:
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Sandy Springs, Georgia
Location in Fulton County and the state of Georgia
Coordinates:
Country United States
State Georgia
County Fulton
Government
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Roswell, Georgia

Seal
Nickname: Roswell, GA
Location in Fulton County and the state of Georgia
Coordinates:
Country United States
State
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Marietta, Georgia, USA
Location in Cobb County and the state of Georgia
Coordinates:
Country United States
State Georgia
County Cobb
Government
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population is the collection of people or organisms of a particular species living in a given geographic area or mortality, and migration, though the field encompasses many dimensions of population change including the family (marriage and divorce), public health, work and the
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list (by population) of all metropolitan statistical areas as defined by the United States Census Bureau.

Population estimates are current as of July 1, 2006. Metropolitan statistical area names are current as of December 1, 2005.
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Area is a physical quantity expressing the size of a part of a surface. The term Surface area is the summation of the areas of the exposed sides of an object.

Units

Units for measuring surface area include:
square metre = SI derived unit

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State of Georgia

Flag of Georgia Seal of Georgia
Nickname(s): Peach State, Empire State of the South
Motto(s): Wisdom, Justice, and Moderation

Official language(s) English

Capital Atlanta

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State of Georgia

Flag of Georgia Seal of Georgia
Nickname(s): Peach State, Empire State of the South
Motto(s): Wisdom, Justice, and Moderation

Official language(s) English

Capital Atlanta

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urbanized area—a contiguous area of relatively high population density. The counties containing the core urbanized area are known as the central counties of the MSA.
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metropolitan area is a large population centre consisting of a large metropolis and its adjacent zone of influence, or of more than one closely adjoining neighboring central cities and their zone of influence.
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Motto
"In God We Trust"   (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum"   ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
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20th century - 21st century
1970s  1980s  1990s  - 2000s -  2010s  2020s  2030s
1997 1998 1999 - 2000 - 2001 2002 2003

2000 by topic:
News by month
Jan - Feb - Mar - Apr - May - Jun
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A census is the process of obtaining information about every member of a population (not necessarily a human population). The term is mostly used in connection with national 'population and housing censuses' (to be taken every 10 years according to United Nations recommendations);
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population is the collection of people or organisms of a particular species living in a given geographic area or mortality, and migration, though the field encompasses many dimensions of population change including the family (marriage and divorce), public health, work and the
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Atlanta, Georgia
Downtown Atlanta

Flag
Nickname: Hotlanta,[1] The A-T-L[1]
Location in Fulton and DeKalb counties and the state of Georgia
Coordinates:
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Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is the spreading out of a city and its suburbs over rural land at the fringe of an urban area.[1] Residents of sprawling neighborhoods tend to live in single-family homes and commute by automobile to work.
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Annexation (Latin ad, to, and nexus, joining) is the legal incorporation of some territory into another geo-political entity (either adjacent or non-contiguous).
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Charlotte, North Carolina
Skyline of Charlotte at night

Flag
Nickname: "The Queen City"
Location in Mecklenburg County in the state of North Carolina
Coordinates:
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City of San Diego
San Diego Skyline

Flag
Seal
Nickname: America's Finest City
Motto: Semper Vigilans (Latin: Ever Vigilant)
Location of San Diego
within San Diego County
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City of Phoenix, Arizona
Downtown Phoenix

Flag
Seal
Nickname: Valley of the Sun
Location in Maricopa County and the state of Arizona
Coordinates:
Country
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combined statistical areas (CSAs). Using Census Bureau data the OMB compiles lists of CSAs. The areas that combine retain their own designations as metropolitan or micropolitan statistical areas within the larger combined statistical area.
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global city or world city is a concept promoted by the geography department at Loughborough University which postulates that globalisation can be broken down in terms of strategic geographic locales that see global processes being created, facilitated and enacted.
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global city or world city is a concept promoted by the geography department at Loughborough University which postulates that globalisation can be broken down in terms of strategic geographic locales that see global processes being created, facilitated and enacted.
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Barrow County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of 2000, the population was 46,144. The 2005 Census Estimate placed the population at 63,702 [1] The county seat is Winder, Georgia6.
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Bartow County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of 2000, the population was 76,019. The county's explosive growth is evident, as the population of the county rose to 91,266 as of the 2006 estimate.
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Butts County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. It was created on December 24, 1825. As of 2000, the population was 19,522. The 2006 Census Estimate shows a population of 23,561 [1] .
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Carroll County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2000 census, the population was 87,268. The 2006 Census Estimate shows a population of 107,325 [1] . The county seat is Carrollton, Georgia6.
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Cherokee County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of 2000, the population was 141,903. The 2006 Census Estimate placed the population at 195,327 [1] . The county seat is Canton, Georgia6.
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Clayton County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of 2000, the population was 236,517. The 2006 Census estimate placed the population at 271,240 [1] . The county seat is Jonesboro6.
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