Georgia transportation officials broke ground Thursday on an $800 million project hailed as the “center puzzle piece” of a broader overhaul of I-285 and Georgia 400.
During the next four years, construction crews will add new flyover ramps and collector-distributor lanes to improve east-west travel along I-285 and north-south travel on Georgia 400. The project is due to be completed in mid-2020.
Mark Burkhalter, a member of the State Transportation Board whose district includes the Perimeter area, credited Gov. Nathan Deal and the General Assembly with passing a $900 million transportation funding bill last year that is speeding up the construction schedule. Under an earlier timetable, work wasn’t to have begun until 2021.
After the interchange improvements are completed, a 10-year, $10 billion statewide transportation plan Deal unveiled last winter calls for adding lanes along the entire “top end” of I-285 between interstates 75 and 85, and north along Georgia 400 to McFarland Parkway.
According to officials, only minor work will take place between now and February. After that, the early work schedule will focus on the Mt. Vernon Highway bridge overpass, the Georgia 400-Abernathy Road interchange and the northbound lanes of Georgia 400.
