Rerouted traffic on the now toll-free GA 400 was flowing smoothly Monday morning as commuters swung around the barricaded toll plaza and were funneled through three of the old Cruise Card lanes with apparent ease.
During the first morning rush-hour since the tolls were eliminated on Friday afternoon, traffic was slowing just before the toll plaza in both directions around 9 a.m. But highway traffic appeared to move faster than it did when when cash-paying drivers had to stop to pay tolls.
The speed limit through the construction zone will stay at 45 mph while crews work to remove the toll plaza structure.
No heavy demolition work is expected to take place during the winter holidays, according to the Georgia Department of Transportation. In January, workers will begin demolition on the toll booths, canopy, and reeinforcement structure, as well as the filling in of the tunnel stairwells with cement. The $4.5-million project will be completed in the fall of 2014.
Once the project is finished, the speed limit return to its former level of 55 mph.
Toll-taking officially ceased just after 11 a.m. Friday following brief remarks by Gov. Nathan Deal at the site. In July 2012, Deal announced that the state would pay off its outstanding bond debt and end tolls on Ga. 400 by December 2013.
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