When you’ve been a traffic reporter for 16 years, people tend to bend your ear when it comes to traffic related issues. What’s the best way to get here? When should I leave my house? How long will it take to get from here to there?
I understand that people have plenty of traffic questions, and I’m always happy to help. More often than not though, when people talk to me about traffic, it’s not to ask me questions, but to vent about their commuting frustrations. Often times I feel like a traffic therapist and not a traffic reporter.
The biggest and most consistent gripe I’ve heard over the years has been the continued existence of the toll on Ga. 400.
Well, time to get off my couch my dear traffic patients, because Friday marks the beginning of the end of the much maligned 400 toll.
The tollway demolition project will continue on and off until the scheduled end date in the fall of 2014. When all is said and done, the plaza will be removed and there will be three, free lanes in each direction on Ga. 400 between Interstate 285 and Interstate 85. During the construction project the speed limit will remain 45 miles per hour through the zone, but will be increased to 55 miles per hour when the project is complete.
Toll collection will continue until the week before Thanksgiving, weather permitting. After that, your ride on Ga. 400 will be free, both north and southbound.
How will this process impact traffic now and through completion? That’s tough to tell right now. In the short term, I would expect traffic to be slower in the area as crews work to re-stripe the electronic Peach Pass lanes. Bert Brantley, Deputy Executive Director of the State Road and Tollway Authority, tells me that during the whole project the plan is to have three lanes open in each direction.
Long term projections by the Department of Transportation and the SRTA estimate that once the tolls are removed and the construction is finalized, there could be a 10 percent increase of traffic on Ga. 400 between I-285 and I-85. That works out to around 11,000 more cars a day. That increase could impact your morning and afternoon commutes, but we’ll really have to wait and see when the project is finished and drivers get used to a toll-less roadway.
One thing will definitely help traffic on Ga. 400: the completion of the I-85 extension. Slated to be done in mid-January, commuters will finally be able to ramp from Ga. 400 southbound onto I-85 northbound, and I-85 southbound drivers will be allowed to ramp onto Ga. 400 northbound. This extension was part of the original plans 20 years ago, but was scrapped because it was thought not enough drivers would use the transitions. Turns out many, many commuters would.
As the tolls disappear, there may be many current Peach Pass holders with balances left on their accounts. You can get refunds for the unused money, or keep the pass for use on the I-85 HOT Express Lanes.
About the Author
