HOV lanes to open on Ga. 316/I-85 interchange

The next time citizens of the Bulldog Nation caravan back to Atlanta from a University of Georgia home game, their carpools can cruise through the Ga. 316/I-85 interchange on brand-new HOV lanes.

Just in time for football season, contractor crews are about to open another key part of the mammoth interchange project in Gwinnett County, said state Department of Transportation spokesman Mark McKinnon.

Both the westbound Ga. 316 HOV lane and the connecting I-85 southbound HOV lane are scheduled to open overnight on Thursday. They should be open by 5 a.m. Friday, McKinnon said.

“That means all the Ga. 316 westbound lanes and all the I-85 southbound lanes will now be open,” he said.

Three years ago, the contractors’ price of $147 million to re-build the whole interchange was the most expensive single Georgia DOT contract award that officials could remember. In a world of soaring construction costs, though, it has already lost the top spot.

All that remains to open are northbound and eastbound HOV lanes, McKinnon said.

He said contractors had not given DOT an expected completion date. The three-year contract says they have to be finished by Dec. 31, he added, “but it’s going to be well ahead of that.”