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[sprjus4]

I-20 west of Atlanta has the AADT and truck volumes to warrant 6 lanes fully between Atlanta and Birmingham.

I-20 east of Atlanta, on the other hand, outside the metropolitan area, is relatively adequate with 4 lanes.

The same can be said with I-85 south of I-185, closer to Alabama.

[US 89]

I-20 west of Atlanta has the AADT and truck volumes to warrant 6 lanes fully between Atlanta and Birmingham.

I-20 widens to six lanes at the Alabama line, and except for a segment through the Talladega Mountains area, is six lanes all the way to Birmingham. I don't know what the numbers say, but in my own experience, there is more traffic (trucks especially) on that part of I-20 in west Georgia than there is on I-85 going northeast to South Carolina.

What I was getting at with my earlier post is that GDOT just spent 2-3 years on a full pavement reconstruction on some/all of that I-20 segment. You'd think that would have been a great opportunity to add that third lane and connect the Alabama six-lane portion with the existing one through Atlanta, which currently ends at Villa Rica.

[sprjus4]

^ I agree. I drove that portion this past summer, and the 4 lane portions were pretty choked with traffic and trucks in general. The long 6 lane sections, particularly in Alabama, were a nice relief.

[Tom958]

Today, for the first time in my life, I heard someone refer to GA 400 as US 19. 'You're not from around here, are ya?" 

[Tom958]

At long last, the 400 swap onto the new mainline has been implemented. no more left-side onramp from Abernathy, among other things. Rain had been predicted starting in the wee hours of this morning, but it got pushed back to this afternoon... so, I was hoping they'd do it. Still nothing on Facebook, though, even though they've already released a diagram of the new configuration. This isn't my photo, but it's posted with permission. I'll probably head down there later this morning.

[Georgia Guardrail]

I went on 400 SB this morning.  Will be interesting to see during Rush Hour where the backups occur.  I imagine the next step will be to relocate the SB 400 to Abernathy road exit ramp and combine it with the Marta exit ramp.  That can't come soon enough because there are like 3 exit points right now in one area with the new merge.

[Voyager75]

I-20 west of Atlanta has the AADT and truck volumes to warrant 6 lanes fully between Atlanta and Birmingham.

I-20 widens to six lanes at the Alabama line, and except for a segment through the Talladega Mountains area, is six lanes all the way to Birmingham.

2 segments actually. Still four lanes from the Coosa River in Pell City to east of the Talladega Speedway. The original bridges over the river will have to be replaced to be widened to six lanes in that section. Then you have the segment from US-431 in Oxford to AL-46 in east Heflin. Both segments total are about 30 miles so it’s still not a easy drive with weekend traffic. Had to drive it 5-6 times a year to Atlanta before we moved to south Alabama last year so I had to comment. I’d take it now since we’ve doubled the drive with the equally bad I-85 from Montgomery to Atlanta segment added.

[sprjus4]

^ Is I-85 south of I-185 that bad? I’m just curious, but I don’t recall ever having an issue there.

[US 89]

^ Is I-85 south of I-185 that bad? I’m just curious, but I don’t recall ever having an issue there.

Based on my own experience, at a minimum it should probably have 3 lanes each way in the Auburn-Opelika area. That segment also has several older bridges with no shoulders which only serves to bring attention to the cramped nature of the corridor.

[Voyager75]

^ Is I-85 south of I-185 that bad? I’m just curious, but I don’t recall ever having an issue there.

Based on my own experience, at a minimum it should probably have 3 lanes each way in the Auburn-Opelika area. That segment also has several older bridges with no shoulders which only serves to bring attention to the cramped nature of the corridor.

This. On weekends with truck traffic it can be troublesome.

[Dirt Roads]

^ Is I-85 south of I-185 that bad? I’m just curious, but I don’t recall ever having an issue there.

Based on my own experience, at a minimum it should probably have 3 lanes each way in the Auburn-Opelika area. That segment also has several older bridges with no shoulders which only serves to bring attention to the cramped nature of the corridor.

This. On weekends with truck traffic it can be troublesome.

Isn't there a fair amount of through US-280/US-231 traffic on the segment concurrent with I-85?  Using the Interstate as part of a different route's bypass creates a need to support the through traffic on both routes (in addition to local traffic).  For the record, we railroaders tend to have the same problems.

[US 89]

^ Is I-85 south of I-185 that bad? I’m just curious, but I don’t recall ever having an issue there.

Based on my own experience, at a minimum it should probably have 3 lanes each way in the Auburn-Opelika area. That segment also has several older bridges with no shoulders which only serves to bring attention to the cramped nature of the corridor.

This. On weekends with truck traffic it can be troublesome.

Isn't there a fair amount of through US-280/US-231 traffic on the segment concurrent with I-85?  Using the Interstate as part of a different route's bypass creates a need to support the through traffic on both routes (in addition to local traffic).  For the record, we railroaders tend to have the same problems.

US 280 is concurrent with 85 for a little bit, but I don’t think 280 on its own is responsible for all that much of the heavier traffic in that area, since those issues seem to extend beyond the couple of exits where the two routes overlap. At any rate, where the cars are coming from doesn’t change the fact that this segment of interstate could probably benefit from some expansion.

I assume you meant US 431, but that never overlaps 85. US 231 is way over by Montgomery.

[Dirt Roads]

I assume you meant US 431, but that never overlaps 85. US 231 is way over by Montgomery.

Oops.  Not sure how I made that mistake. 

[Tomahawkin]

Breaking: Construction on the 285/20 interchange project in Dekalb county is set to begin in April and last 3 years. I hope it's the same contractor who did the Redwing cir and Covington hwy bridge replacements. They are doing a hell of a job with those bridges in getting them completed ahead of schedule.

[ran4sh]

So two of the major I-285 interchanges will be under construction at the same time.

[Georgia]

So two of the major I-285 interchanges will be under construction at the same time.

Yep, i think the plan was to start construction about one year apart; starting with the east side first.

[Georgia Guardrail]

This weekend looks like GDOT will switch I 285 lanes from outside to inside as they continue the reconstruction of the three bridges by the Transform 285/400 project.  However, it looks gradual as they are doing the bridges over Glenridge and SR 400 first then Peachtree Dunwoody.  So the lanes will probably zig and zag initially going from inner to outer EB.

[Tomahawkin]

Morning/afternoon commutes are going to be nasty for the next 10 weeks because of this. Thankfully I use Cotillion drive to Ashford Dunwoody and then take the side road that runs from there parallel to 285 to get to P-tree/Dunwoody and then use the Glenridge connector after to get to Roswell Rd. I wish that GDOT would hurry up and install overhead master lighting! Especially since it will be dark in the mornings again when the time change hits in 20 days

[Tomahawkin]

Word on the Streets is that the 285/20 interchange construction is set to begin this summer? Both North and South directions of 285 from Covington Highway to Candler road will probably be as congested as the 285/400 corridor. I'd imagine that there will be 1-2 lanes being closed in both directions, all hours of the day? Thank gawd I only have to go through that area once a week...

[Georgia Guardrail]

I've heard that I-285/I-20 East Interchange will start work in April.  Yes that stretch of I-285 between I-20 and SR 400 will probably be quite crammed.  Hopefully the 285 bridge replacements will be done by this Summer.

[US 89]

I wish they’d reconstruct the western 285/20 interchange first. That one has far worse traffic issues in my experience.

[Finrod]

I wonder when they're going to eventually reconstruct I-20 west of downtown out to I-285.  That road felt ancient and like it could fall over any time when I was commuting on it eight years ago.  I imagine the railroad underpass complicates things quite a bit.

[Tom958]

I wonder when they're going to eventually reconstruct I-20 west of downtown out to I-285.  That road felt ancient and like it could fall over any time when I was commuting on it eight years ago.  I imagine the railroad underpass complicates things quite a bit.

I've never heard of any such project, and I don't know what railroad underpass you're referring to. Perhaps you're mistaking the Westview Drive bridge for a railroad bridge because the girders are so deep.

In case you don't know, I-20 west was originally built with the same cross section as I-20 east and the last section of I-75-85, with six concrete lanes,* a tall-curbed grassed median, mountable curbs between the mainline and the right shoulders, and no shoulders on the mainline bridges. In the early eighties, GDOT installed a modern Jersey barrier median and flush-paved shoulders, added shoulders to the bridges, and tidied up the concrete with the intent of leaving it as six lanes. However, shortly before project completion, they decided to pave the whole thing with eight lanes of asphalt and accept painfully narrow shoulders. I really thought it'd prove to be unacceptably unsafe, but I guess I was wrong.

*Those original six lanes on concrete are still visible on I-20 east. I thought not replacing them when I-20 was widened was a mistake, too, but I was wrong about that as well.

[Tom958]

I removed my post from earlier today about the supposedly-imminent opening of the new DDI at GA 400 and Abernathy Road. In fact, there are mast arms that haven't been installed yet, and some that have been installed don't have bagged signal heads on them.

What did happen over Friday-Saturday night is the temporary diversion of all eastbound traffic to 400-Glenridge and Roswell Road to the one-lane permanent Roswell Road offramp, which, of course, has been striped as two lanes by commandeering the shoulder. I'm a bit surprised that both of the right lanes of 285 are dropped there rather than having an option lane as was done at the previous 400-Glenridge offramp. Doing this moves the point at which the mainline reduces to three lanes a good mile-and-a-half upstream. A member of our Georgia roads Facebook group posted a video of his trip down the new offramp, but I was curious enough about the mainline and the DDI to check it out myself (plus the weather was gorgeous and I wanted to try out my new phone camera!).

The fourth lane is reopened a little before the Roswell Road bridge, which means that traffic from the onramp from Roswell Road still has to merge into it, then move left again to remain on eastbound 285.

Also, in the westbound direction: I'd thought that the onramp from Glenridge to 285 added a permanent fourth lane to the 285 mainline, same as the Peachtree-Dunwoody onramp does eastbound. Either I was wrong, or it's been changed. Now, the combined westbound CD and the Roswell Road onramp add two lanes to the now-three-lane mainline, with the former fourth lane ending upstream somewhere. If someone can clarify that, I'd appreciate it.

EDIT: The reason for this detour is that they're replacing the decks on the bridges over Long Island Drive and Lake Forest Drive. that means that they'll shift traffic to do the rest of the bridges at some point.

[roadman65]

https://www.albanyherald.com/news/blackout-replacing-lights-in-georgia-400-tunnel-will-cost-millions/article_db88d50e-da1c-56bf-8652-f853adcfeaee.html
Millions to add lights in a tunnel?
Crazy.