I-16/I-75 Interchange construction to start fall 2016

[afguy]

I'm so glad to finally see this project get underway. Just not looking forward to the 8 years of construction...

During the past decade, GDOT data shows 975 accidents within the interchange, 365 of them with injuries and one fatality.

They say the crash and injury rate is "considerably higher than statewide averages."

Brandon Wellman became part of the statistics a few years ago. He crashed into a guardrail, getting on I-16 east from I-75 north. He travels the route twice daily from his home in Warner Robins to his job at Geico.

"There's a lane that goes away. No warning, no signage," Wellman said. "People don't know what to do."

Wellman said he hopes the $380 million, six phase construction project changes that.

Construction is expected to last eight years. This map shows what the intersection will look like, if you were standing on Spring Street, looking toward North Macon.

A good way to think about it is in three sets of bridges.

The first set are the ones in the middle. That's I-16 west and I-16 east. Each will have its own dedicated lane of traffic, not merging with 75 traffic through the interchange.

The second set includes I-75 north and I-75 south. It does not have merges or lane changes in the traffic flow. All the merging happens much further down stream.

The third set deals with Spring Street traffic. It has its own lanes to I-75 north and south, with no merges merges. The same goes for traffic off I-75 north and south onto Spring Street. There is also a pedestrian bridge on the far-left side of the map, that goes over the Ocmulgee River from the Riverwalk.

"It's been a long time of meetings, putting things together," May said.

While a piece of the plans for Pleasant fell through, May says the community will offer alternative ideas, such as a library, to GDOT.

"They're entertaining ideas to replace the idea of not moving house," May said.

He is more optimistic than Marshall, but through the decades, she has always kept the memory of its potential.

"There is still in spite of and in the midst of all this blight, there's still something good about Pleasant Hill," Marshall said.

The project includes 37 bridges. The highest one will be at Second Street and stand 10 feet taller than it is currently. GDOT will construct three noise barriers and six visual barriers along the route.

http://www.13wmaz.com/story/news/local/macon/2015/11/12/interchange-construction-start-fall-2016/75663260/

[ModernDayWarrior]

Eight years? That sounds ridiculously long, even for a complex, freeway-to-freeway interchange. Is there any particular reason why this one should take so long?

[afguy]

The only explanation I can give is that since GDOT decided to break the project down into six phases that is why it will take eight years.

[Alex]

Thanks for this post and all of your interchange renderings over the last couple of months afguy. They have been a great resource for me in updating the main site and interstate-guide.com.

From what I had previously researched on this interchange, preliminary engineering was done back in 1998. I recall several articles over the years, perhaps some from the MTR days, touting various start dates for construction on I-16/75 that of course never happened.

Eight years to build one interchange is just how things are these days unfortunately.

[afguy]

Thanks Alex! I really do enjoy researching GDOT's highway plans. I know GDOT gets a lot of flack, but they do the best they can with the resources they have.

[silverback1065]

it may also have something to do with money too, maybe they don't have the funds to do it all at once, so they spread it out over several years.

[Rothman]

it may also have something to do with money too, maybe they don't have the funds to do it all at once, so they spread it out over several years.

^My bet.

[froggie]

It's also not easy (not to mention expensive) to rebuild a major interchange while traffic is still flowing through it.  Maintaining traffic through the construction zone is no doubt contributing to both the cost and the timeframe of the reconstruction.

[lordsutch]

In fairness, one of the major problems - the disappearing lane -could be fixed simply by restriping the merge from Spring Street to WB I-16 to drop the right lane rather than having the left lane mix with through traffic with no warning.

The construction phasing is all about money constraints. It probably could be done in 4 years or so but the optics of spending a huge chunk of money in Macon-Bibb for one big project (that really is an operational improvement that isn't going to be critical congestion relief for a decade or more, if that) would play out poorly when more critical projects around Atlanta are being pushed back or downscaled.

[Tom958]

In fairness, one of the major problems - the disappearing lane -could be fixed simply by restriping the merge from Spring Street to WB I-16 to drop the right lane rather than having the left lane mix with through traffic with no warning.

Oh, hell yeah. What ever possessed GDOT to do it that way? Georgia uses parallel terminals for two lane ramps. Except for one freakin' place in the entire state!