Basketball will be the name of the game in downtown this weekend, as the NCAA South Regional gets under way Friday evening at the Georgia Dome.
Baylor plays Xavier at 7:15 p.m., followed by Kentucky and Indiana, with the winners of those two games meeting on Sunday to determine which team will continue on to the Final Four in New Orleans.
But that won’t be the only roundball played downtown this weekend, as the Hawks take on New Jersey at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Utah at 6 p.m. Sunday at Philips Arena.
Motorists headed to the games and elsewhere this weekend will need to be aware of several road construction projects that are expected to shut down a key city arterial and several interstate lanes.
Ponce de Leon Avenue on Atlanta’s east side will be closed near City Hall East for the reconstruction of a former railroad bridge that carries the Eastside Trail of the Atlanta Beltline over Ponce.
Ponce is to be closed at the viaduct starting at 9 p.m. Friday and continuing through 5 a.m. Monday, according to an Atlanta Beltline blogsite. The closure will be repeated the weekend of March 30-April 2.
Doug Turnbull in the AM750 and 95.5FM News/Talk WSB Traffic Center said eastbound traffic will be routed from Ponce onto Boulevard, while westbound traffic will be forced onto Freedom Parkway, but there will still be access to shopping centers in the area.
On the interstates, the two right lanes of I-285 southbound will be blocked from Chamblee Tucker Road to Northlake Parkway, beginning at 9 p.m. Friday and continuing through 5 a.m. Monday.
Also on I-285, utility crews will be working on power lines between Roswell Road and Ashford Dunwoody Road, and will be stopping eastbound traffic three times between 6 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Saturday.
On the Downtown Connector, resurfacing is planned in the two right northbound lanes from Langford Parkway to University Avenue between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. on Saturday.
All of the road work is weather permitting, which could mean a delay in the closures on Friday night and on Saturday, when Channel 2 Action News meteorologist Karen Minton is forecasting a 30 percent chance of showers. Sunday, however, should be mostly sunny.
Highs both days will be in the 70s, with lows in the 50s.
-- Dispatch editor David Ibata contributed to this article.
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