Any way you slice it, heading north on 400 to parts of Johns Creek and Cumming during a typical afternoon rush hour commute is a grind.
However, a long-overdue on/off ramp between Windward Parkway (exit 11) and McFarland Parkway (exit 12) is beginning to look like reality. The new off-ramp is going to allow direct access to McGinnis Ferry Road, a major commuter road that also serves as the border between Forsyth and Fulton counties.
I got curious about the project recently when people on Union Hill Road (which connects to McGinnis Ferry and actually crosses Georgia 400) said they saw construction crews beginning to do some excavation. While this project is meant to widen Union Hill west toward McFarland Parkway and east to Ronald Reagan Boulevard, it will surely contribute to easing traffic by doubling capacity from the 400/McGinnis Ferry interchange when the new exit becomes reality.
Thanks largely to a $200 million bond referendum approved by Forsyth County voters, a big chunk of the cost of the interchange - $10 million – of the roughly 49 million total cost helped put the job on the front burner. The county has already started working on design and acquiring the necessary land should begin this spring, with construction due to begin in 2018.
Right now, McGinnis Ferry from the proposed interchange east toward Sargent Road is a two lane arterial which at rush hour is nightmarishly slow, west in the morning and east in the evening. So my question to highway engineers at the county and state level is how will a new interchange on an already over-capacity road help anything? As it turns out with most things in life the experts say timing is everything.
Obviously, road work of any kind is subject to weather and other delays common to construction on a complex road network, Forsyth County Department of Transportation Director John Cunard declared that my worries about longer commutes won’t be a problem “if all aligns perfectly,” meaning if all the projects can get done at approximately the right time.
He says that widening McGinnis Ferry Road is a sister project to the 400 Interchange work. An agreement has been worked out where Forsyth County, State DOT and the cities of Johns Creek and Alpharetta all agree to jointly fund improving this critical arterial. Cunard said confidently that once completed, the three projects will result in what he termed “a dramatic change” for commuters.
If the recent widening of 400 northbound from McFarland Parkway (another county/state project) is any indicator, I am fairly comfortable the McGinnis Interchange has a good chance to align perfectly.
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