If you didn’t get a chance to read Andria Simmons’ article in Sunday’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution, stop what you are doing right now, find yesterday’s paper or go read it on myajc.com.
In case you didn’t follow my instructions, the piece was an in-depth, exclusive look at what the new Interstate 285/Ga 400 interchange might look like when it is completed in 2019. The article discusses the costs, the benefits, the impact on traffic and some great comparisons to the existing I-85/I-285 interchange in Dekalb County, fondly or not-so-fondly referred to as “Spaghetti Junction.”
The proposed I-285/Ga 400 project is a massive undertaking and before I can offer an opinion on how it will impact traffic (both during its construction and after it is completed) I have to weigh the viability of the project coming to fruition and what changes we might see in the final project. That being said, you should be able to read my first round of analysis here in this column shortly.
Now, back to Ms. Simmons’ article in Sunday’s paper. At the bottom of the piece, Ms. Simmons included some amazing statistics about I-285 and it’s interchanges that I had never seen before. Look at this:
Traffic comparison for interchanges along I-285:
- Ga. 400: 416,000
- I-85 North (Spaghetti Junction): 421,043
- I-85 South (south side): 274,198
- I-75 N (Cobb cloverleaf): 411,960
- I-75 S (south side): 249,955
- I-675: 190,491
- I-20 E (east side): 294,721
- I-20 W (west side): 291,914
(Total sum of traffic in all four directions)
Amazing, and somewhat surprising numbers, in my opinion. The first thing that jumped out at me was how similar the Interstate 20 exchanges are in terms of traffic volume on both the east and west sides of town. Less than 3,000 vehicles a day separate the two!
I find that fascinating.
I was also surprised to see that on the south side, the I-85/I-285 interchange handles more volume than the I-75/I-285 interchange. You wouldn’t be able to tell that during morning drive.
There was little shock though, to see the massive amounts of vehicles that travel the northern I-285 interchanges (I-75, Ga 400 and I-85), each topping over 400,000 vehicles per day. Per day. That’s a lot of cars and trucks.
As for the proposed new I-285/Ga 400 interchange, original estimates put it’s costs at around $950 million. Construction would start sometime in 2016 and it would be expected to be open to traffic in 2019.
But you already knew that if you listened to me and read Ms. Simmons’ article.
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