A.M. ATL: Lane changes

Morning, y’all! Apparently yesterday was National Poetry Day, which I need to put in my calendar for next year.

A lot of people say they don’t “get” poetry, which is totally fine. You don’t have to get it. It gets you.

What I mean is, poetry comes to us in many forms. Music is a fruitful vessel for poetry, but so are those little roadside letter boards or especially creative fan chants at soccer games. Heck, I’ve seen unforgettable word craft in the comments section of a YouTube video.

Do the words sparkle with some truth greater than their sum? Do they rattle around in your head long after you’ve read them? Can you taste the shape of them in your mouth, or sense in them a color or texture? That’s poetry.

Let’s get to it.

BIG I-285 TOLL LANE NEWS

The Georgia Department of Transportation has picked the group that will be responsible for a yearslong project to add toll lanes to the eastern top of I-285.

The big picture: GDOT’s ultimate goal is a system of connected express lanes throughout metro Atlanta.

The timeline: Construction on the full 34 miles of new I-285 toll lanes will begin in 2028, with the final phase scheduled for completion in 2042.

The group responsible: GDOT awarded the first phase of the project, which encompasses the outer loop of I-285 starting around I-75 past I-85, to Top End Mobility Group.

The eye-watering costs:

• The estimated design and construction price tag for the first leg is $8.9 billion.
• TEMG will actually foot that bill in exchange for 50 years of toll revenue once the project is completed.
• The group will also pay Georgia a $23.6 billion concession fee and reimburse the state for $515 million in project costs to date.

A few more details

• The toll lanes will be built alongside existing lanes.
• The State Transportation Board says the additional lanes will also create a path for bus rapid transit routes along the corridor.
• Will this make your commute in one of the city’s most congested areas even worse? Short answer: yes. Long answer: y e s.
• But! Comfort yourself with assurances from transit officials that things will be much better once it’s all done ... nearly two decades from now.

🔎 READ MORE: A lot more details about the plan, plus maps and some intrigue about the contracted company

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DATA CENTERS COULD TAKE TAX DOLLARS AWAY FROM SCHOOLS

Earlier this week, we talked about how plans to eliminate residential property taxes may cost school districts critical tax revenue.

A new study shows data centers could pose the same danger.

• Georgia school districts will give up roughly $300 million this year from sales tax exemptions, according to a new analysis from Good Jobs First, a nonprofit watchdog group.
• The loss comes from sales tax breaks to OpenAI, Microsoft and other tech giants building “hyperscale” warehouses in communities across the state.

What Big Tech is doing to offset the loss

Tech companies are engaging in charm campaigns to counteract the data center industry’s growing unpopularity. In some cases, this has created benefits for schools.

• Microsoft is attempting to pay back the millions it’s saved in taxes to two metro Atlanta counties.
• Project Camellia, a $20 billion OpenAI project in Effingham County, will include salary increases for school staff and more resources and opportunities for students, according to county officials.

🔎 READ MORE: The challenges of estimating data center impacts

GEORGIA GUARDRAILS FOR KIDS ON SOCIAL MEDIA

A 2025 state law that allows Georgia to require age verification for social media accounts can go into effect after a panel of judges lifted a temporary ban.

• The Protecting Georgia’s Children on Social Media Act aims to prevent children under the age of 16 from having social media accounts without a parent or guardian’s permission.
• It requires companies to make good faith efforts to ensure users are at least 16 years old. It also limits advertising and information collection for minors’ accounts.

Why the law was on hold

• NetChoice, a trade organization for internet companies including Meta, Amazon, Google and Netflix, sued Georgia’s attorney general in 2025, saying the law would infringe on Georgians’ First Amendment rights.
• The judges ruled the group failed to prove the law would pose such a threat.

🔎 READ MORE: AG Chris Carr calls it a ‘major win’

MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS

👾 CNN signed a multiyear content partnership with Google, allowing the tech giant to use more of its journalism and intellectual property in its AI products.

🏢 A former Georgia government building was slated to be refurbished into apartments. That plan fell through, so now they’re tearing it down. (The implosion is scheduled for Oct. 24, just in case you live near Chamblee and hear an alarming sound.)

🚢 The Georgia Ports Authority got the all-clear from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to start work on a $2.3 billion Savannah Container Terminal. It’s the GPA’s biggest project to date.

BEWARE OF KNOCKOFF WEIGHT LOSS DRUGS

Keep this name in your mind: retatrutide.

A new installment of a multipart AJC investigation reveals dozens of med spas and wellness clinics in Georgia are offering knockoff versions of retatrutide, an unapproved weight loss drug.

• Retatrutide is still in development and hasn’t been approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
• Eli Lilly, the company developing it, has been trying to chase down knockoff versions.
• That’s tough in Georgia, where regulations around wellness centers and other medical businesses are particularly lax.
• The danger, experts warn, is that unregulated, knockoff or black market substances could contain contaminants or altered forms of ingredients. Such drugs are likely to be produced by unlicensed manufacturers in foreign countries.

🔎 READ MORE: The latest installment of the AJC’s ‘Risky Medicine’ investigation

NEWS BITES

Everything to know about the Dream’s matchup in the WNBA Finals

It all starts Saturday! Here’s more info on getting tickets.