GDOT picks team to build I-285 toll lanes in record-setting bid

A group of international companies has been picked to build and maintain 19 miles of express lanes along I-285 in a record-setting deal with the Georgia Department of Transportation.

The design and construction price tag alone is expected to run $8.9 billion, costs that will be paid by the Top End Mobility Group, in exchange for 50 years of future toll revenue from the project. Sweetening the deal is an offer by the consortium to pay Georgia a $23.6 billion concession fee and reimburse the state for $515 million in project costs to date.

The State Transportation Board approved the choice Thursday, moving forward phase 1 of a project that, in the short term, will mean years of construction disruptions for drivers but that in the long term will give drivers an option to avoid some of the perimeter loop’s ever-present congestion and create a path for bus rapid transit routes along the corridor.

Emphasis on the long term: A child born this year will be old enough to get their driver’s license the same year the final phase of construction is expected to wrap, in 2042. The first phase, two toll lanes along the outer rim, isn’t scheduled to open until 2034.

Still, it marks a major step toward fulfilling GDOT’s ultimate goal of a system of connected express lanes throughout metro Atlanta. These top-end toll lanes on the eastern rim of I-285 will join express lanes under construction on Ga. 400 and those already in place along I-85, I-75 and I-575. After that, the western top of I-285 will get the same toll lane treatment.

“We’ve got quite the journey ahead of us, but it’s going to be worth it,” Transportation Commissioner Russell McMurry said in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The I-285 concession dwarfs the one paid in the Ga. 400 project, which previously set a record with a $4 billion payment to the state. The consortium behind SR 400, Peach Partners, which won that project, was one of three finalists for the I-285 work.

It’s the second major road project awarded in recent months to the group behind the winning I-285 bid, the Top End Mobility Group. That group was also awarded a 26-mile toll project along I-24 in Tennessee in August after offering a $24.8 billion concession there.

Details of the two unsuccessful offers in Georgia were not immediately known. Meg Pirkle, GDOT’s chief engineer, said Top End Mobility Group won the highest marks on both technical and financial grounds, earning 1,944 points out of a possible 2,500.

Construction is expected to start in 2028. The first phase will add two lanes to the outer ring of the eastern top of I-285, while phase 2 will add lanes to the inner ring. Then, the plan is to take the express lanes down to the I-20 east interchange.

The contract guarantees the phase 1 work to the Top End Mobility Group. GDOT can award future phases to the company if it wants, a decision that would be made in the next couple of years, once the project is underway.

Public-private partnerships have become an increasingly popular way to build major infrastructure projects. GDOT first turned to the model for the Ga. 400 project after initial bids far exceeded the state’s budget.

In the case of I-285, private investment made the toll project possible, said Jannine Miller, the State Road & Tollway Authority’s executive director.

“We wouldn’t be able to do this,” she said.

Doing nothing isn’t a responsible option on an interstate with some of the worst congestion in the country, McMurry said. Traffic on I-285 moves below 55 mph for eight hours of the day currently.

“So much for a rush hour,” he said. “It’s a rush day.”

Traffic volume is expected to grow by 25% over the next 15 years.

GDOT retains oversight over the project, and the contract sets limits on the toll rates the Top End Mobility Group can charge. Right now, the cap is set at $2.06 per mile, the same rate used on Georgia’s existing express lanes.

Tolls will be allowed to temporarily exceed that rate on I-285 when traffic in the express lanes falls below 45 mph.

A driver traveling the full length of the 19 miles of express lanes being built in the first phase would pay at least $39.14. But most drivers aren’t expected to drive the full length; only about 10% of drivers do so on the existing express lanes. Most take the toll lanes for a smaller segment.

GDOT expects that when the toll lanes open, it will relieve some of the congestion on the general purpose lanes. But congestion typically climbs back up after a temporary respite.

The I-85 express lane near Pleasantdale Road, which opened in 2011, generally runs faster than the general-purpose lane next to it, but not significantly, according to an AJC analysis of the past 30 workdays. On average at 4 p.m., the express lane moved just 1.3mph faster than the left-most “fast” lane.