What happens when Atlanta’s weekend road work spills over to Monday’s commute

The Georgia Department of Transportation’s ambitious plan to close full sections of I-285 in both directions for entire weekends, as they rehab and replace concrete on a 15-mile stretch of the westside Perimeter, has gone well.

Despite gridlocked traffic near the first two closure scenes in southwest Atlanta and some miscommunication and misdirection with trucks using side streets, Atlanta has braced itself handily so far.

But when you close an entire freeway for the weekend, there’s the potential the blockage will last into a Monday morning drive. This is why a poor weather forecast postponed the initial I-285 closure in May for a couple of weeks. When that first weekend closure did happen, Sunday night rain did not delay the lanes’ opening early Monday. Crisis averted.

GDOT chose not to enact full I-285 closures during the World Cup, as the state did not want to create unnecessary backups with extra tourist traffic. But the department still did other daytime road work around town and worked on I-285 in the overnight hours.

But the weekend of July 10-12 brought a more aggressive tow forward, as GDOT scheduled two right lanes to be blocked on I-285 northbound (inner loop) from Cascade Road (Exit 7) to Martin Luther King Jr. Drive (Exit 9), from 9 p.m. that Friday to 5 a.m. Monday.

They also would shut down the I-285 northbound ramp to MLK. This closure of half of I-285 North was expected to and ended up causing a healthy backup from Ga. 166 (Exit 5). This area was the same stretch that saw the first two full I-285 blockages, so drivers had a grip on what the outcome could be. The untested factor came Monday morning.

Rachel Cox-Rosen, my 11Alive co-anchor, reported the lanes remained closed into the rush hour on July 13. GDOT initially said weather and issues with materials would delay the two lanes from opening until 4 p.m. last Monday. The congestion remained similar to the weekend levels: backed up over 2 miles to Ga. 166.

Then GDOT pushed back the opening time to 8 p.m. But the double-lane blockage lasted until after dark.

When Cox-Rosen and I resumed traffic duties Tuesday morning, the work barrels were still in place as rain fell. I navigated there with photojournalist Stephen Boissy, and we were parked behind the closure by 6 a.m. The rain picked up and not much work seemed to be happening.

But we noticed some cones at the north part of the closure zone had been moved after 7 a.m. and crews fully pulled the closure just before 7:30 a.m. All in all, the double-right lane blockage lasted 26.5 hours too long.

GDOT told us that besides the weather and issues with materials, the contractor also experienced equipment issues. All of that contributed to the postponed reopening. The state said it would explore whether the contractor would be fined.

Regardless of any penalties, Atlantans should temper any rage. While the traffic backups caused by the delayed opening are frustrating, something like this was bound to happen. Crews cannot easily pave roads in the winter, which is why Atlanta’s “spring flower” is the construction cone. But the warm season in Georgia also brings an increased chance of rain and storms, which often slow road work.