Atlanta

[Tomahawkin]

Other than the Sound Barriers there are no aesthetics to the project. I dont understand why they are installing sound Barriers on 400 when toll lane construction will begin there in 16 months. It's a waste of toll and taxpayers money

[Eth]

Word on the Streets is that the tall flyover ramp from 400 SB to IH 285 east is open? Any truth to this? I'm not going to be in that area until next weekend. Also there is a lot of work left to be completed at both the Hammond Drive and Abernathy interchanges along 400 due to the fact that a lot of Rock has to be blasted along that hill

The ramp has indeed opened, per WSB.

[Tom958]

Word on the Streets is that the tall flyover ramp from 400 SB to IH 285 east is open? Any truth to this? I'm not going to be in that area until next weekend. Also there is a lot of work left to be completed at both the Hammond Drive and Abernathy interchanges along 400 due to the fact that a lot of Rock has to be blasted along that hill

The ramp has indeed opened, per WSB.

I heard that the ramp opening was quite a clusterfrig, though thankfully I didn't witness it myself. I took some photos on Saturday morning. With the opening scheduled for 3am Monday, I expected the ramps not to be painted yet. As it turned out, they weren't even paved!

The current configuration switches the two ramps from 400 to 285: now 285 east is the far right lane, while 285 west is the second from the right. How they expected to communicate that without overheads... well, no wonder it was a clusterfrig. Google Maps now has the new configuration, but it didn't for several days after the opening, which... Glenda Google tells you what lanes to be in. A timely switchover could only have helped.

And... I'm on Facebook a lot, and I follow several GDOT pages, but I heard about the opening from a friend. I finally saw an item about it on GDOT's page several days later.

The next big shift will move through traffic on southbound 400 to the new Glenridge Connector CD, which means that the new flyover to 285 east will exit to the left. I hope GDOT and its minions have their acts together by then.

[Tomahawkin]

Had an impromptu meeting in Sandy Springs so I was able to use the new flyover from 400S to 285 EB. It's a long single lane flyover, might be longer than the 3 lane 285 flyover @Spaghetti Junction. Be aware though, for the moment there is about 1500 feet to merge onto the 285 main lanes at the end of the flyover. It was a B#### at 6pm today because the traffic on Ashford/Dunwoody ramp was backed up onto the interstate. That DDI on the Ashford/Dunwoody road bridge is already outdated. They should have gutted it and rebuilt that interchange as well, IMO

[Tomahawkin]

@Tom958, any date on the next phase opening? I'm giving it after new year's barring the weather...

[Tom958]

@Tom958, any date on the next phase opening? I'm giving it after new year's barring the weather...

Definitely. The next detour will involve a bridge that as of last Saturday consisted of a row of steel piles at each abutment. In other words, barely started.

Be aware though, for the moment there is about 1500 feet to merge onto the 285 main lanes at the end of the flyover. It was a B#### at 6pm today because the traffic on Ashford/Dunwoody ramp was backed up onto the interstate.

Saturday, I took photos looking north and south from Hammond Drive and west from Perimeter Center Parkway, but I realized later that I'd neglected to look east from PCP.  Yes, the weaving length must be horrifically short.

I'll go over there and take more photos this weekend, weather permitting.

[architect77]

@Tom958, any date on the next phase opening? I'm giving it after new year's barring the weather...

Definitely. The next detour will involve a bridge that as of last Saturday consisted of a row of steel piles at each abutment. In other words, barely started.

Be aware though, for the moment there is about 1500 feet to merge onto the 285 main lanes at the end of the flyover. It was a B#### at 6pm today because the traffic on Ashford/Dunwoody ramp was backed up onto the interstate.

Saturday, I took photos looking north and south from Hammond Drive and west from Perimeter Center Parkway, but I realized later that I'd neglected to look east from PCP.  Yes, the weaving length must be horrifically short.

I'll go over there and take more photos this weekend, weather permitting.

You seem to be quite interested in this interchnge. You should persist in communicating with GDOT any wishes you have. For me, I'd like as much landscaping and trees to be added in between all the ramps etc. that would integrate the man-made concrete into the landsscape and provide some shade. And of course to install all overhead signs and supports to be visually level and not lean down to one side. They cannot seem to do this in Georgia.

[Tomahawkin]

@Architect77 there will be little planning or adding as far as plants/trees/etc, are concerned. There will be more toll flyover added once the 285 and 400 toll lanes are added to this interchange in the next 10-12 years

[Tom958]

This is one long flyover forming one arc that switches to different supports 3 times, precast straight beams, then exposed steel curves directly over i-285, then back to straight concrete beams again.

It looks piece-meal and is the most visible flyover for I-285 drivers.

I am disappointed at how blind they are to aesthetics. The state builds virtually no new roads so it's not like the nominal costs savings of mismatched supports was critical in completing their workload.

I feel ya, bro, but in addition to cheapness, I suspect that after the Willian T. Sherman Viaduct collapse, bias in favor of building bridges out of components that can be ordered out of a catalog and fabricated within a few days will be extremely strong for the foreseeable future. Just wait'll they start with the elevated express lanes. Top end 285 will be a veritable AASHTO beam wonderland.

As it happens, I photographed that interchange the day before the first weathering steel span was erected. My photos can be found at the FreewayJim Facebook group, searching for Tom Marney 400.

[architect77]

This is one long flyover forming one arc that switches to different supports 3 times, precast straight beams, then exposed steel curves directly over i-285, then back to straight concrete beams again.

It looks piece-meal and is the most visible flyover for I-285 drivers.

I am disappointed at how blind they are to aesthetics. The state builds virtually no new roads so it's not like the nominal costs savings of mismatched supports was critical in completing their workload.

I feel ya, bro, but in addition to cheapness, I suspect that after the Willian T. Sherman Viaduct collapse, bias in favor of building bridges out of components that can be ordered out of a catalog and fabricated within a few days will be extremely strong for the foreseeable future. Just wait'll they start with the elevated express lanes. Top end 285 will be a veritable AASHTO beam wonderland.

As it happens, I photographed that interchange the day before the first weathering steel span was erected. My photos can be found at the FreewayJim Facebook group, searching for Tom Marney 400.

i assume the elevated section of i-85 over Piedmont Rd. is the Sherman you're referring to?

That repair job was done well. I was so scared that they wouldn't match the style of the existing elevated section but they did and it's seamless. They spent extra on fast-curing high strength concrete, and of course there were complaints from idiot groups about prudent use of taxpayer money.

The elevated express lanes in cobb look ok, and yes, there are a lot of precast beams used, but all in all it looks decent. However I hear that it's not smooth to drive on as it has bumps and inclines/declines that don't lend themselves to high speeds.

It's amazing that over 20 miles which is mostly elevated was built for less than $1 billion. Likewise. NC built a new, elegant bridge on the Outer Banks for only about $250 million. Both projects in other states  would be far, far more expensive.

I went to the open houses for the express lanes and gave them copies of 5 pages of my suggestions, none of which were addressed in their final report responding to public input. Nothing related to aesthetics or landscaping was mentioned as something they will address.

I mainly just want them to not install 75 overhead trusses each with one sign attached which blocks the view of the sky and the surrounding trees. It creates an unattractive environment for people to stare at for hours during rush hour, and it's unnecessary and a waste of tax payer money as these full span supports are about $50K each, double of what the appropriate cantilever support costs.

[Tomahawkin]

Drove through the 400/285 interchange yesterday. If I had to guess: I'm thinking that the ramp from 285 west to 400 North will be the next leg to open? With that said I wish that GDOT would abolish the ramp to Peachtree Dunwoody road. It's a total Cluster#### at all hours of the day from 7am-7pm.

[Tomahawkin]

285 updated version on the Express lane project has been updated. Its on Youtube. That #### is another band-aid on a bullet-wound! 1 added lane isnt going to do #### with all the truck traffic in the Atlanta area

1) No outer perimeter

2) No Rail! That extends to the suburbs. People in the Suburbs must love spending 90 minutes in traffic in the AM? and close to 2 hours in the PM?

GDOT Is a Bleeping Joke! 1 added lane on 285? With no interchange improvements at the 78 interchange...Natalie Dale is on that Stuff! or slobbing a GDOT! Im sure she lives walking distance from the GDOT's office.

[Georgia]

rail has never been popular in the region, so the people would rather sit in traffic than enjoy a comparatively stress free park and ride rail trip. 

Natalie Dale is a GDOT employee, the next time you hear her badmouth a project/concept will be the first time. 

An outer perimeter is going to be tough in this financial/NIMBY environment.  You already complain about how long it takes things to get accomplished, I would hate to see the public comment/EIS process for some of those sections of the Outer Perimeter.  The current perimeter is 68 or 69 miles isnt it; think of how expensive that would be to re-build today, now at least double that for an Outer Perimeter.  I mean, it is going to be a 11 figure project to complete. 

The problem is, the express lanes could be 2 lanes and they could add 2 free lanes to 285, and it still would ultimately not be enough without some other mode to alleviate the stress on our roads.  The metro area really needs to embrace far more transit of any sort( BRT, Light Rail, Heavy Rail) than it currently does, but i dont know how that happens given the stigma attached with Marta in Atlanta and America in general. 

[architect77]

rail has never been popular in the region, so the people would rather sit in traffic than enjoy a comparatively stress free park and ride rail trip. 

Natalie Dale is a GDOT employee, the next time you hear her badmouth a project/concept will be the first time. 

An outer perimeter is going to be tough in this financial/NIMBY environment.  You already complain about how long it takes things to get accomplished, I would hate to see the public comment/EIS process for some of those sections of the Outer Perimeter.  The current perimeter is 68 or 69 miles isnt it; think of how expensive that would be to re-build today, now at least double that for an Outer Perimeter.  I mean, it is going to be a 11 figure project to complete. 

The problem is, the express lanes could be 2 lanes and they could add 2 free lanes to 285, and it still would ultimately not be enough without some other mode to alleviate the stress on our roads.  The metro area really needs to embrace far more transit of any sort( BRT, Light Rail, Heavy Rail) than it currently does, but i dont know how that happens given the stigma attached with Marta in Atlanta and America in general. 

Only when plowing through an already developed area are new highways expensive.

With gas costing less in NC than in North Georgia, NCDOT manages to spend $3 billion every year on new highway constrctuction and improvements. The rest, $2 billion, is spent on maintenance of over 80,000 miles of roads each year, GDOT maintains 35,000 miles.

An outer loop around Atlanta wouldn't help much because it would have too big of a circumference to aid local traffic.

A Northern Arc or an upgrade to GA20, however, would provide a much needed 2nd route for tractor-trailers to traverse North Georgia.

I-85 is a conduit for freight coming from the Northeast and Mid-Altantic, translation: gazillions of trucks 24/7.

The only way through the Southeast headed West is through Atlanta, and then the only route Westbound without going to South Atlanta and back upward, must be shared with a metro of 6 million plus.

Any new connection East-West through North Georgia would help tremendously. It's amazing that people tolerate the backups including truck drivers which sometimes are backed up over 10 miles on I-85 Southbound just to get onto I-285.

For those who think proximity to GDOT offices is a factor regarding maintenance or upgrades, think again. The office for Altanta is in Chamblee and employees must pass deteriorated and inadequately-sized tiny interstate shield signs as the only guidance on I-285. They are plastered to the overpass' concrete girders. They are faded and barely readable.

Not far away is Peachtree Industrial Blvd. limited access Northbound, where the access road overheads were half-missing or faded beyond readability.

Any area that's predominantly minority populated like Jimmy Carter Blvd. will not get any attention from GDOT. If you don't believe me, drive through the Southside, Chamblee, Doraville or Norcross and see the 50 year old lane signs that have old-timey outlines for the shields if you can see anything at all.

They're so dumb, the state's infrastructure is judged as a whole, so they're not gaining anything by only spending in affluent or white areas.

[Georgia]

Boy, after looking at the 285 top end lanes, do i wish i owned a pre-cast concrete beam fabrication company.

[Tomahawkin]

IKR, whoever gets awarded that job is going to bank! Ditto for the GA 400 express lanes, because there will be bridge expansion over that route where it crosses the Hooch as well and OT I really wish that they would re-do the Roswell Rd interchange over 285! It's been outdated by 40 years...

[architect77]

Boy, after looking at the 285 top end lanes, do i wish i owned a pre-cast concrete beam fabrication company.

I wish they would hire the engineers from the "Freeing the Freeways" back the 80's who gave us all the swooping box girder flyovers lthat are used so much at Spaghetti Junction. Curved concrete molded to its precise usage against a backdrop of trees is the main visual of living in Atlanta.

The straight segments of beam are fine as long as they aren't supporting curved roadways.

In NC, it's all curved, exposed steel except for a few spots near the coast.

rdu by Stephen Edwards, on Flickr


I requested multiple times for GDOT's appropriate district to replace these years ago, but because the area is mostly Latino, I think that GDOT purposely does not spend for maintenance. A sad state.

This is Chamblee-Tucker Rd. headed Westbound at Buford Highway. These are supposed to identify Buford Hwy as US23. They're so old that  the shield used a different design.

chamdun by Stephen Edwards, on Flickr

[Tomahawkin]

How ironic that one of the CDC sites is in distance of that picture. Other than the restaurants,  I avoid Buford Highway like the plague because of the traffic

[architect77]

How ironic that one of the CDC sites is in distance of that picture. Other than the restaurants,  I avoid Buford Highway like the plague because of the traffic

The unfortunate aspect is that areas like this and Jimmy Carter Blvd. now look like you could be in another country. There is little visible infrastructure that's uniform in appearance and is decidedly American or associated with Georgia.

In contrast the uniformity in appearance of street signs and traffic signals in New York and California always tie extremely ethnic neighborhoods back with the city they're in..

Georgia isn't unifying but rather fracturing into more cities that want to go it alone. Duplication of so many services isn't efficient use of taxpayer funding. GDOT should be called out for neglecting parts of the metro that are mostly minority populated.

[Tomahawkin]

Omg! I was at Jimmy Carter Blvd, a few days ago! And I'm a Broken record on this! That DDI Is a band aid on a bullet wound! That interchange needs to be gutted and redone! The added commercial truck traffic over the last 5 years has made it worse!

[Thing 342]

I requested multiple times for GDOT's appropriate district to replace these years ago, but because the area is mostly Latino, I think that GDOT purposely does not spend for maintenance. A sad state.

This is Chamblee-Tucker Rd. headed Westbound at Buford Highway. These are supposed to identify Buford Hwy as US23. They're so old that  the shield used a different design.

chamdun by Stephen Edwards, on Flickr

Adding on to this, I noticed that the burned-out/melted US-23 sign on I-285 near Spaghetti Junction is still standing unaltered (as of Friday), despite being completely unreadable. It's been like that at least since August when I last visited. Why on earth hasn't it been replaced?

[architect77]

I requested multiple times for GDOT's appropriate district to replace these years ago, but because the area is mostly Latino, I think that GDOT purposely does not spend for maintenance. A sad state.

This is Chamblee-Tucker Rd. headed Westbound at Buford Highway. These are supposed to identify Buford Hwy as US23. They're so old that  the shield used a different design.

chamdun by Stephen Edwards, on Flickr

Adding on to this, I noticed that the burned-out/melted US-23 sign on I-285 near Spaghetti Junction is still standing unaltered (as of Friday), despite being completely unreadable. It's been like that at least since August when I last visited. Why on earth hasn't it been replaced?

Are you kidding? the tiny lane signs with shields at interstate junctions throughout the whole state never get replaced. Decades can pass before someone finally says hey these, faded, unreadable signs need replacing.

It's beyond inexcusable being that these tiny signs at interstate junctions are supposed to be big overhead guidance signs like the top-tier states have. In metro Atlanta, if there is any signs, it's a tiny "SR 400 NB", and I'll bet 70% of the public couldn't tell you what "SR" stands for, and likely not "NB" either.

[Tomahawkin]

Found out that (weather permitting) the ramp from 400 south to 285 west could open before the end of the year. IMO this should help the bottleneck on 400 south between Abernathy and IH 285...

[Tom958]

Clearview has appeared in Georgia under GDOT's auspices! My understanding, such as it is, is that the design team for the 285-400 project is from Texas and works in Clearview. Lately, the sign fabricator has stopped changing the font to Highway Gothic and had supplied the signs as specified. They're small (and inadequate!), temporary signs for the construction zone, so don't expect them to last, but for now we have a certified unicorn sighting in Georgia.

[architect77]

I just saw the new overhead signs on I-285 East approaching Spaghetti Junction. I hope they will be replaced when the Express lanes are built.
They look awful, sloppy, hastily erected, and every signs bridge leans down toward the center divider. This state cannot erect a visually level gantry period. I'll bet 10% at most statewide look level, the rest make this state look like Hee-Haw primitive, it's embarrassing and people pick up on it even if just subconsciously.