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Tom958:
--- Quote from: Tomahawkin on May 21, 2023, 07:03:49 PM ---I seriously hope the same contractor who rebuilt the Bridges on 285 North of there is the same one doing this interchange. They were quick in replacing those bridges. I Would imagine most serious work at this interchange will be done overnights and on weekends...?
--- End quote ---
Yep, same contractor, pretty much.
--- Quote from: architect77 ---just with longer spans and fewer columns and straddle bents for the flyovers.[/i]
-SOUNDS LIKE THIS might look really GOOD and ELEGANT!
--- End quote ---
Probably, though deliberate attention to aesthetics would be far too much to expect. :-/
Tomahawkin:
That is great news that contractor did a kick #### job on the Bridges north of that interchange. Total 180 from the 400/285 ongoing fiasco. I can't wait to see this interchange done with added lighting. 285 is going to look like a urban Freeway once the toll lanes (2 in each direction) are added
US 89:
--- Quote from: Tom958 on May 22, 2023, 09:44:48 PM ---
--- Quote from: Tomahawkin on May 21, 2023, 07:03:49 PM ---I seriously hope the same contractor who rebuilt the Bridges on 285 North of there is the same one doing this interchange. They were quick in replacing those bridges. I Would imagine most serious work at this interchange will be done overnights and on weekends...?
--- End quote ---
Yep, same contractor, pretty much.
--- Quote from: architect77 ---just with longer spans and fewer columns and straddle bents for the flyovers.[/i]
-SOUNDS LIKE THIS might look really GOOD and ELEGANT!
--- End quote ---
Probably, though deliberate attention to aesthetics would be far too much to expect. :-/
--- End quote ---
Honestly, I don't care too much about aesthetics for stuff like this as long as it doesn't look like it's 100 years old or straight out of some dystopian WWIII movie. Even if you make it look nice to start, the concrete will probably start turning black anyway pretty quick.
Tom958:
I-85-285 southwest of Atlanta, 1968, purchased from historicaerials.com for the exorbitant price of $10. The short and high-volume weaves make this probably the worst interchange I've ever personally driven through. In fairness, the problems with this interchange are as much from planning as from engineering. That is, it's simply impossible to design an economical interchange for these movements, especially with Spur 14 and the service interchange with GA 279 Old National Highway in the picture. Fittingly, it was replaced in the mid eighties with the largest and most complex interchange in metro Atlanta, with sixteen lanes on six separate roadways under Old National Highway.
The east-west I-285-Spur 14 component was built first; I recall that the bridges were dated 1959, but historicaerials shows the section still under construction in 1960. I-85 north followed in 1964-65 or so, I-85 south a bit later, then I-285 north probably in 1967, though it looks brand new in this view. Spur 14 was a temporary connector to US 29, which eventually became the eastern end of the South Fulton Parkway, but, except for that, it was relatively useless once I-85 to the south was opened a mere five years or so after Spur 14. Could a case have been made for not building Spur 14? Or perhaps running I-85 along that route and then southwestward on the west side of Union City et al? Maybe so!
Contrary to my own memory, the 85-285 concurrency was six lanes from day one, with the forty-foot median typical of early Georgia Interstates surviving until the eighties reconstruction. While more capacity there would've been good to have, apparently GDOT decided that adding lanes would be so operationally unsound as to be more trouble than it was worth. What I do remember correctly is that the westbound roadway jumped from three lanes to five, with a mainline lane being added on the right simultaneously with the onramp from Old National Highway.
Tom958:
Six days after I asked, GDOT's Facebook crew replied that the 285 bridge replacements at Glenridge, 400, and Peachtree-Dunwoody were on track for completion in late July-early August, after which the mainline will have room for the final eight through lanes. There's still a good bit of work to do on the ramp terminals, and surely they'll follow with a hugely-overdue resurfacing of the 285 mainline.
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