This weekend’s RedState Gathering could bring traffic red alerts to Buckhead streets, while elsewhere, a full slate of road work could jam numerous stretched of metro Atlanta interstates.
Here’s what you need to know to avoid the traffic bottlenecks this weekend:
Perimeter to see bulk of work
A long stretch of the Perimeter on the west side of town will see two lanes shut down in each direction beginning at 9 p.m. Friday and continuing through 5 a.m. Monday. The northbound closures begin at Camp Creek Parkway and continue through South Atlanta Road, while a couple of southbound lanes of I-285 will be closed from I-20 to Camp Creek Parkway.
On the southwest side of I-285, one lane of the westbound ramp to and from I-85 will be closed during the same hours.
In DeKalb County, one lane of I-285 northbound from Glenwood Road to Chamblee Tucker Road will be closed nightly for striping.
Also in DeKalb, one lane of the I-85 northbound ramp to I-285 eastbound and one lane of the I-285 eastbound ramp to I-85 northbound will be closed all weekend.
Two westbound lanes of I-20 will be closed from Langhorn Street to Martin Luther King Jr. Drive throughout the weekend, while east of Atlanta, two westbound lanes of I-20 will be closed from Alcovy Road to U.S. 278. The ramp from Alcovy Road to I-20 westbound will also be shut down.
Sign structure work will require crews to shut down two northbound lanes of I-75 from Windy Hill Road to Delk Road from 9 p.m. Friday through 7 a.m. Saturday. North of there, one northbound lane of I-75 at Ga. 5 will be close from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday for guard rail repairs.
One southbound lane of I-75 will be closed at the North Marietta Parkway exit from 9 p.m. Friday through 10 a.m. Saturday.
Also on I-75, various lanes in both directions will be shut down from 9 p.m. Friday through 10 a.m. Saturday for beam placements.
South of Atlanta on I-75, one southbound lane between Ga. 138 and Ga. 155 will be closed from 9 p.m. Friday through 7 a.m. Monday.
For updated traffic information throughout the weekend, visit the WSB 24-hour Traffic Center.
Sunny weekend on tap
All of the scheduled roadwork is weather-permitting, but there is nothing in the forecast to delay construction.
Channel 2 meteorologist Karen Minton is forecasting mostly sunny skies Saturday and Sunday, with no rain either day.
Afternoon highs will be around 91 Saturday and 93 Sunday, and morning lows in the low to mid-70s.
Braves, Republicans and Steve Harvey highlight weekend events
The “RedState Gathering” of Republican presidential hopefuls will bring a lot of extra traffic to the area surrounding the Intercontinental Hotel on Peachtree Road in Buckhead Friday and Saturday.
The big event downtown this weekend is comedian Steve Harvey’s Ford Neighborhood Awards, which take place Saturday night at Philips Arena. Big crowds are also expected next door for the accompanying State Farm Neighborhood Awards Expo being held Friday through Sunday at the Georgia World Congress Center.
The Atlanta Braves take on the Marlins at 7:35 p.m. Friday, 7:10 p.m. Saturday and 5:05 p.m. Sunday at Turner Field, and the Gwinnett Braves play Buffalo Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday afternoon at CoolRay Field.
Other weekend events include Kiss 104.1’s Flashback Festival featuring Chaka Khan, Sheila E. and the SOS Band Saturday night at Aaron’s Amphitheatre at Lakewood.
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