The Sandy Springs City Council has endorsed a council member’s proposal calling on the state to revise its plans for express toll lanes along 16 miles of Ga. 400. Mayor Rusty Paul will send a letter to the Georgia Department of Transportation stating the city’s position.
Council Member John Paulson’s proposal calls on GDOT to close the Pitts Road bridge during construction and build a new one in its place, rather than building a new bridge to the south as currently planned, action that could take at least four homes.
The express lanes are to start outside Ga. 400 at the North Springs MARTA station and move to the center of the highway on flyovers to be constructed at and north of the Northridge Road bridge. Paulson would have the move to the median happen south of Northridge, and he said the express lanes should run under the bridge, not over it.
Finally, GDOT should keep existing sound walls protecting homeowners in place as long as practicable, and provide new sound barriers as early during construction as practicable.
“This is a project that’s going to outlive all of us; it’s the biggest project since I-285 was built,” Paulson said. “I want to make sure we do whatever we can to avoid unnecessary impacts to the community.”
GDOT proposes adding two managed toll lanes in each direction from North Springs to McGinnis Ferry Road in North Fulton County, and a single lane in each direction from McGinnis to McFarland Parkway in Forsyth County. Preliminary plans released earlier this year show the state taking about 40 homes for the project, mostly in Sandy Springs.
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