Transport and commuting · The US 78 corridor
Getting around Snellville
Getting around Snellville is a US 78 story with a rail footnote that most Gwinnett towns cannot match. US 78 runs through the center of town, State Route 124 crosses it at the main intersection, and the city's position on the corridor gives it the region's most direct bus-to-MARTA connection, Ride Gwinnett's Route 70 to the Indian Creek station.
The car is still the default answer, and the honest weekday picture is Highway 78 toward the Perimeter in the morning and back in the evening. Every route, stop, and time below is verified; where something does not exist, this page says so plainly.
The roads
The highways that cross at the center of town
US 78, with State Route 10
Runs through the center of town, linking Snellville west to Stone Mountain and east toward Loganville, Monroe, and the Athens side. It is the town's main street and its main commute, and the road that carries the worst of the peak-hour traffic.
State Route 124, Scenic Highway
Crosses US 78 in the center of town and heads north to Lawrenceville, the county seat run most Snellville households make weekly. South it points toward Lithonia and the I-20 side.
State Route 84, Grayson Parkway
Connects US 78 in Snellville east to State Route 20 at Grayson, the short hop to the Grayson-area shopping and the roads beyond. It is the quieter east-side exit from town.
State Route 20, at the town's edge
Runs at the eastern edge of the Snellville area, reached by State Route 84. North it points toward Lawrenceville and the I-85 side; south toward Conyers and the I-20 corridor.
The commutes
What the drives to the usual destinations actually take
Times below are published figures for normal, uncongested traffic on the roads Snellville actually uses. The weekday peaks change them substantially, and the Highway 78 run toward the Perimeter is the one that everyone asks about first.
Downtown Atlanta
About 40 minutes
Roughly 25 to 32 miles via US 78 to the I-285 side, with published figures of 35 to 45 minutes in normal traffic. The Highway 78 peak can push the run to an hour.
Lawrenceville
About 15 minutes
About 7 to 8 miles north on State Route 124, with published figures of 11 to 18 minutes. The county seat run, straightforward and short.
Hartsfield-Jackson
About 50 minutes
About 33 to 37 miles, typically via US 78 to I-285 and the airport, with published figures of 45 to 55 minutes in normal traffic. Earlier is better; the connector is the unreliable part.
For scale: the average one-way commute in Gwinnett County runs about 33 minutes across all workers, per the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey.
Transit
The best bus-to-rail story in east Gwinnett
Ride Gwinnett's Route 70 is the headline: it runs on weekdays from the Snellville end of Highway 78 to the Indian Creek MARTA station, where the Blue Line takes riders into downtown Atlanta and on to the airport. That direct bus-to-rail connection is genuinely rare east of the interstate in Gwinnett.
The wider local network adds a second layer. Ride Gwinnett also runs local service across the Snellville and Lilburn corridor, and operates a curb-to-curb microtransit shuttle zone in Snellville, booked by app, for the trips that a fixed route cannot cover. Both are real, weekday-oriented services.
For commuter express service into downtown, the nearest Xpress regional routes run from lots to the west and north; most Snellville riders find the Indian Creek line more direct for their own addresses.
Schedules and fares change with the season. Confirm the current Ride Gwinnett timetable before your first ride.
Rail and air
MARTA, Hartsfield-Jackson, and the local field
Indian Creek is the rail answer for Snellville, the outer terminus of MARTA's Blue Line just west of the county line. No MARTA rail line reaches Gwinnett itself, which is exactly why Route 70's connection at Indian Creek matters.
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is about 33 to 37 miles from town, roughly 45 to 55 minutes in normal traffic. For riders, the Blue Line from Indian Creek runs to the airport station directly.
For private and general aviation, Gwinnett County Airport Briscoe Field in Lawrenceville is the nearest public-use field, about 20 minutes north on State Route 124, with a 6,000-foot runway.
The takeaway
Driving or transit, the honest answer for Snellville
- Highway 78 is the commute: toward the Perimeter in the morning, back in the evening, with the peak pushing a 40-minute light-traffic run to an hour.
- Snellville has the east-county rail advantage: Route 70 to Indian Creek opens downtown Atlanta and the airport by train.
- The on-demand shuttle zone covers the trips in between, the errands and connections a fixed route cannot reach.
- Lawrenceville is the counter-flow run, about 15 minutes up Scenic Highway, against the heaviest traffic.
- The honest read: a car-first town where the transit alternative is real for the first time, which is more than most of the corridor can say.
Thinking about moving to Snellville? Explore Rob Dietrich's Snellville real-estate guide.
An editorial guide, not a listings site. Updated September 13, 2026. Real-estate guidance on this page is provided by Rob Dietrich, REALTOR® with eXp Realty, LLC.