Cobb County leaders have proclaimed that a number of transportation projects already “in the queue” will increase accessibility to the proposed Braves stadium before its first pitch in 2017.
However, the centerpiece roadway project will serve only as an express bypass of the area, while another innovative plan that could actually enhance site access is not in play. Let’s see if transportation officials can handle the curve.
The Northwest Corridor project — GDOT’s $840 million crown jewel — will add two optional, variable-rate toll lanes along the west side of I-75 from I-285 to I-575, then split into two separate, single toll lanes within the medians of I-75 and I-575 to points northward. The lanes will be reversible, carrying southbound traffic during the morning commute and northbound traffic during the afternoon/evening commute.
The Braves stadium will be near I-285 at the southern end of the project, meaning the express toll lanes will be useless to northbound drivers trying to access the site. On weekdays, most games will begin in the evening, during the late-day commute. Therefore, the reversible lanes will be open to northbound traffic and unavailable to folks who have to drive south to get to the stadium — in other words, everyone in the northwest corridor.
For weekend, holiday and early afternoon games, the reversible toll lanes will likely be open for southbound traffic and in high demand. However, the last toll lane exit ramp north of the stadium will be onto Terrell Mill Road, which lacks connectivity to the south. As a result, Terrell Mill will be clogged with cars crawling toward Cobb Parkway and Powers Ferry Road and zigzagging through the North X Northwest office park to get to the stadium. Fortunately, there is a solution in the playbook.
Several years ago, the Cumberland Community Improvement District — the area’s self-taxing coalition of commercial property owners — hatched a plan to build a four-lane, median-divided connector between Terrell Mill and Windy Hill roads. The most logical route extends Leland Drive — a small dead-end road off of Windy Hill — north to Terrell Mill. Thus, the project became known as the Leland Drive Extension.
Last year, Cobb officials included the one-mile, $14 million connector in the regional T-SPLOST plan, but since the referendum’s failure, they have yet to identify another source of funding. I believe it’s time to take another swing at it.
If the Leland Drive Extension is completed — preferably before the express toll lanes open in 2018 — signage on Terrell Mill could direct game-day traffic to the newly connected Leland Drive, then across Windy Hill to a realigned Interstate North Parkway West: a straight shot down to the stadium.
Cobb County hit a home run by scoring the Braves, but reliable accessibility to the new stadium will be the true measure of its success. Building the Leland Drive Extension would help.
Dave Henson, a Woodstock resident, is founder and director of Georgia Policy Solutions.
