Local News
New I-85/Ga. 400 interchange opens
GDOT Commissioner Keith Golden gives remarks before the ramp is opened. Governor Nathan Deal and other state and local leaders conducted a brief ribbon-cutting celebration of the opening of the new flyover ramps Wednesday, April 2, 2014. The ramps provide I-85 southbound traffic with direct access to GA 400 northbound and also give GA 400 southbound motorists a direct ramp to I-85 northbound.
A revamped interchange at Ga. 400 and I-85 opened to drivers on Wednesday afternoon, ushering in some much-needed traffic relief for nearby surface streets in Buckhead.
Now, drivers heading south on Ga. 400 who want to go north on I-85 and drivers going south on I-85 who want to access Ga. 400 North can take direct access ramps. Previously, motorists had to exit one highway and take surface streets to enter the other.
Facts about the project:
- An average of 32,200 vehicles per day are expected to use the ramps.
- The new ramps will take between 4,500 and 6,000 vehicles a day off Sidney Marcus Boulevard and Lenox Road.
- The combined length of the two bridges is .62 miles.
- The flyover ramp measures 52 feet at its highest point over I-85 and 57 feet high at its highest point above the Buford Connector.
- The $21.4 million project was funded entirely by bonds backed by the Ga. 400 toll, which ended last November.
- Construction began in February 2012.
- The project includes a pedestrian trail landscaped with native Georgia species.
- 15,000 cubic yards of concrete were used.
- 128 bridge beams were used, the largest being 65 tons and 160 feet long.
- At peak construction, 100 employees for Archer Western contractors were on site, and five construction cranes were in use.
* Source, the Georgia Department of Transportation
