Atlanta

[Tomahawkin]

Looks like the new Covington HWY bridge could bridge could be accessible to both directions of traffic by years end. It looked like it took 9 months to get that thing built? I hope GDOT used these same contractors for the 400 and 285 express lanes? The current contractors who built the 400/285 interchange have worked at a snails pace, IMO

[Georgia Guardrail]

The current contractors who built the 400/285 interchange have worked at a snails pace, IMO

Yeah I remember back in the early phases of the 285/400 project, the contractor didn't work on Sundays at all.  All of those beautiful weather days wasted.  I'm not sure if that was a contractor or GDOT decision though.

[Tomahawkin]

Im curious to see what are the next bridges on 285 in Dekalb County that will be replaced? I hope its the Bridges between Memorial Dr. and US 78. Especially the Church St/Ponce De Leon interchange where the Train track is in the middle of both of those roads. A lot of people cut on those streets during peak rush hour times to avoid 285

[Georgia]

No more bridges are being widened on east side 285 for MMIP and the express lanes.

The contractor for the bridges is Archer Western while 285/400 is that North Perimeter Contractors, a subsidiary of Ferrovial Agroman(yea, never heard of them either)

[Tomahawkin]

You gotta be ####ing me??? The Bridges at Church St and Ponce are beyond antiquated. And are in desperate need of repair. No way in  can 2 toll lanes in both directions can fit there???

[Tom958]

So, yesterday in my Facebook memories from a year ago was an announcement by GDOT that "We've heard your concerns!" and that the Big Scrunch of I-285 from eight lanes to six through the 285-400 interchange area, which had been imminent, would be postponed to June of 2022. Now it's October of 2022 and it still hasn't happened. Wow. And it's not because GDOT has heard our concerns. Why do they say shit like that?

I can't help but see a resemblance between North Perimeter Constructors and the Russian armed forces. And between GDOT and Putin.

For anyone who hasn't been paying attention, the closure is necessary in order to replace the three pairs of bridges carrying 285 over Glenridge Drive, the 400 mainline, and Peachtree Dunwoody Road. The original concept for the project left these bridges intact. Maybe they should've stuck with Plan A.

[Georgia Guardrail]

I imagine the bridge replacements are necessary in order to fit three SB lanes of 400 under I 285.  Not sure about the other roads though like Glenridge and Peachtree Dunwoody.  Are they widening those roads?

[Tom958]

I imagine the bridge replacements are necessary in order to fit three SB lanes of 400 under I 285.  Not sure about the other roads though like Glenridge and Peachtree Dunwoody.  Are they widening those roads?

The entire six-lane mainline plus the existing northbound CD and loop ramp will pass under 285, so the new bridges will be a lot longer than the existing ones. Glenridge and Peachtree Dunwoody are to be widened, too, so the new bridges carrying 285 over them will be substantially longer as well. The changes amounted to an enormous increase in scope. When I asked a GDOT guy about it, he said that it was a contractor redesign that they said they could do within the budget, which is absurd on the face of it.

Here's my post about the change, which includes a rendering of the previous design: https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=32172.msg2366668#msg2366668 

Might as well throw this in, too. I put it on Imgur in case it disappears down the memory hole at GDOT.

[Tom958]

Here's a new GDOT video about The Big Scrunch. There was a Facebook post about it, too, which inexplicably didn't include a link to the video. One or the other stated that the closures "could happen as soon a October 8th." We'll see, I guess.

https://youtu.be/K9EWeMW9XWA

[Georgia Guardrail]

I wonder if the SR 400 Southbound lanes will open after the bridge replacements are completed.  That way they will be able to complete the SR 400 southbound alignment all the way through under the new widened I-285 bridge over 400.

[Tom958]

I wonder if the SR 400 Southbound lanes will open after the bridge replacements are completed.  That way they will be able to complete the SR 400 southbound alignment all the way through under the new widened I-285 bridge over 400.

Surely that'll be the only item that's left by then.

The eastbound Big Scrunch happens tomorrow, with westbound scheduled the for next weekend subject to whatever delays materialize.

[Tom958]

The eastbound Big Scrunch is now operational and mostly flowing well under weekend traffic volumes. We'll see about Monday. Or really Tuesday, since Monday is a lesser holiday.

Operationally, the fourth eastbound 285 mainline lane is dropped at the Ashford Dunwoody offramp, with the Roswell Road onramp force-merged into it, eliminating the former weaving lane. The taper is decently long, at least.

The new CD extension passing under the Ashford Dunwoody bridge is open, too. I passed through yesterday on the way home from work, staying on the mainline (Google Maps erroneously showed the mainline as being closed, and routed me via the two loop ramps at the Glenridge Connector! ). At that point in time, the mainline was choked down to three lanes right before the MARTA bridge, and traffic was backed up on the CD. Yesterday I surmised that they were putting the finishing touches on the two-lane CD connection to the mainline, but... today I learned that I was wrong: In fact, the fourth lane is added to the mainline by the Peachtree Dunwoody onramp, and the new CD will remain choked down to one lane for a while, which will create a persistent backup. Oh, well: it's better than it was before. Meanwhile, adding the fourth lane to the mainline there avoids even a small reduction in mainline capacity. I think it's a good idea.

Eventually, the merge area between the CD and the mainline will be enlarged to allow traffic from the CD to merge into the mainline before the right lane ends. The auxiliary lane from the Ashford Dunwoody onramp to the Chamblee Dunwoody offramp is a permanent feature-- I'd suspected that it might be commandeered for the second lane of the CD, but no.   

Oh: Google Maps is STILL showing the eastbound 285 mainline as closed! WTF? I hope they get it straight before tomorrow morning. 

[Georgia Guardrail]

I suspect they will open the rest of the SR 400 to I 285 Westbound ramp next week to coincide with more lane reductions.  There was a sign that said the Westbound ramp will be closed this Saturday the 15th.  So the Westbound ramp will go underneath Roswell Road and over Lake Forest Drive before merging on I-285 WB.

[Tom958]

I suspect they will open the rest of the SR 400 to I 285 Westbound ramp next week to coincide with more lane reductions.  There was a sign that said the Westbound ramp will be closed this Saturday the 15th.  So the Westbound ramp will go underneath Roswell Road and over Lake Forest Drive before merging on I-285 WB.

Yes, that's surely the plan. They weren't paving there today, so I guess they think they can wrap it up during regular work hours this week.

One difference: unlike eastbound, where the onramp from the half-diamond Peachtree-Dunwoody interchange enters the mainline before the CD, the onramp from Glenridge enters the CD. Therefore, I think that the CD will remain two lanes and the mainline three, converging with no merger required. I also expect that the much-extended onramp from Roswell Road will be essentially completed, with the merge lane onto 285 being at its permanent location.

[Georgia Guardrail]

So the way I understand it the WB ramp will essentially be a mirror image of the EB ramp.  Glenridge ramp merges on to SR 400 to I 285 WB ramp which merges unto SR 400 immediately after going under the Roswell Road bridge.  Meanwhile, the Roswell road ramp to I 285 WB goes over Lake Forest Drive and then merges onto the freeway.

[Tomahawkin]

I saw that they opened that C/D route from 400 to 285 after Ashford Dunwoody this morning. I can now take the Glenridge connector, hop on the 400N C/D road for a quarter mile then take the 285 east ramp onto where it stays to the right of the mainline traffic til it merges after the Ashford Dunwoody bridge. I'm hoping that's the way I'm going to bypass the Construction since I live off Roswell road...

[Tom958]

At 5:40 this morning, Google Maps finally did away with the erroneous closure of eastbound 285 through the 400 project area. I'd like to think I had something to do with it, but, if I did, no one's saying so. An AJC article about it attributed the mistake entirely to Google Maps and its correction to GDOT's diligence. However, a GDOT Facebook post, later on, attributed the problem to Google misinterpreting whatever GDOT communicated to them. Which... there was no closure, no detour, no newly-opened roadway (OK, the CD extension under Ashford Dunwoody, but that didn't change the schematic layout). Why did GDOT say anything at all?

I saw that they opened that C/D route from 400 to 285 after Ashford Dunwoody this morning. I can now take the Glenridge connector, hop on the 400N C/D road for a quarter mile then take the 285 east ramp onto where it stays to the right of the mainline traffic til it merges after the Ashford Dunwoody bridge. I'm hoping that's the way I'm going to bypass the Construction since I live off Roswell road...

Yes, that was open on Saturday afternoon. It's unfortunate that they didn't manage to complete the two-lane tie-in to the 285 mainline so that the left lane of the CD would have a chance to merge into the mainline before the right lane ends. It'll be harder to complete that work with the area under traffic, and until they do there'll be a bottleneck there. Oh, well. It's better than it was before.

[Alps]

At 5:40 this morning, Google Maps finally did away with the erroneous closure of eastbound 285 through the 400 project area. I'd like to think I had something to do with it, but, if I did, no one's saying so. An AJC article about it attributed the mistake entirely to Google Maps and its correction to GDOT's diligence. However, a GDOT Facebook post, later on, attributed the problem to Google misinterpreting whatever GDOT communicated to them. Which... there was no closure, no detour, no newly-opened roadway (OK, the CD extension under Ashford Dunwoody, but that didn't change the schematic layout). Why did GDOT say anything at all?

I saw that they opened that C/D route from 400 to 285 after Ashford Dunwoody this morning. I can now take the Glenridge connector, hop on the 400N C/D road for a quarter mile then take the 285 east ramp onto where it stays to the right of the mainline traffic til it merges after the Ashford Dunwoody bridge. I'm hoping that's the way I'm going to bypass the Construction since I live off Roswell road...

Yes, that was open on Saturday afternoon. It's unfortunate that they didn't manage to complete the two-lane tie-in to the 285 mainline so that the left lane of the CD would have a chance to merge into the mainline before the right lane ends. It'll be harder to complete that work with the area under traffic, and until they do there'll be a bottleneck there. Oh, well. It's better than it was before.

Google completely destroyed the closure of I-480 at I-29. I went with the state's published closures and I was right.

[Tom958]

Google completely destroyed the closure of I-480 at I-29. I went with the state's published closures and I was right.

Good call.

The weird thing about this episode, AFAIK, is that traffic didn't get nearly as bad as predicted and there was a circuitous and inefficient but uncongested alternate route to the supposedly-closed 285 mainline, so the erroneous closure probably didn't deter many motorists from transiting the area. I'm guessing that a few slavishly followed the recommended route, while others saw that the 285 mainline was open and flowing reasonably well and decided to use their common sense and stick to the mainline. 

[Tomahawkin]

I honestly think the major lane closures on 285 happens overnight? I'm going to go through the area via Roswell rd. To 285 east in the morning. I tend to think that the traffic nightmare will be from the Cobb Cloverleaf to Roswell road heading eastbound in the mornings??? I will see tomorrow...

[Georgia]

It isnt, live in Cobb and wife works near that interchange on the east side of 400 and she consistently is in her office by 7:40 after leaving at about 7:10. 

[Finrod]

The Bentley Road extension from Terrell Mill Road SE to Windy Hill Rd SE is open; Google Maps has the northern 2/3rds of it mapped but not the whole thing yet.  I've driven it twice now, and it's a standard 2x2 divided with the only junction between Windy Hill and Terrell Mill is to the apartment complex and business area that lost its entrance to Windy Hill (Spectrum Circle) so that the Bentley Road extension could have it instead.

[Tom958]

The westbound Big Scrunch is supposed to be operational tomorrow, and some of the signage was placed in advance last weekend: an arrowless 3 RIGHT LANES pullthrough just before the Chamblee-Dunwoody Road bridge, and five individual shield-and-down-arrow signs-- three for 285, two for 400-- just west of there on this gantry for a now-removed VMS. Also on the latter is a proper BGS for "Ashford-Dunwoody," omitting the redundant "Road" and with a white down arrow despite it being an EXIT ONLY.

I started a poll at our Georgia roadgeeks Facebook group as to where people think the fourth mainline lane will be dropped:

• At the offramp to 285 and Peachtree Dunwoody. This would require signage changes that I haven't seen evidence of yet, and it's not what they did eastbound. It'd also imposed the biggest reduction in capacity.
  
• At the Roswell Road offramp, with the onramp from Ashford Dunwoody merging into it rather than having a weaving lane. That's what they did eastbound, but the distance between the relevant on- and offramps is quite a bit longer there.
  
• Between the two: that is, merged into the mainline before the AD onramp. Doing this would provide more decision-recovery room and the 285-PD offramp and retain the weaving lane between the AD onramp and the Roswell Road offramp while providing a bit more mainline storage space for the inevitable backups. There's a precedent for this where the right lane of I-85 southbound continues until right before it converges with GA 400 rather than being dropped at the previous exit as I think it should've been.

I voted for the between-the-two option, but I wouldn't be shocked if they went for the Roswell Road offramp option. I'll find out tomorrow, I guess.

[Tom958]

So the way I understand it the WB ramp will essentially be a mirror image of the EB ramp.  Glenridge ramp merges on to SR 400 to I 285 WB ramp which merges unto SR 400 immediately after going under the Roswell Road bridge.  Meanwhile, the Roswell road ramp to I 285 WB goes over Lake Forest Drive and then merges onto the freeway.

Yep, that's how it ended up. Also, as on the eastbound side, the newly-opened CD passing under the outer spans of the Roswell Road bridge is only one lane instead of two. It'll be harder to finish with traffic on it, but for whatever reason, they (GDOT, the contractor, or both) decided to do it that way.

At the other end, the fourth lane is dropped at the Roswell Road offramp, with the onramp from Ashford Dunwoody merging into the dropped lane. Again, that's a mirror image of what was done eastbound. I'd expect huge backups on the Ashford-Dunwoody onramp during the afternoon rush hour, far worse than eastbound. We'll see, I guess. Also as with eastbound, the opportunity to sign the upcoming EXIT ONLY on an existing overhead sign was not taken.

[Tomahawkin]

Does anyone know what will the exit ramps at 285 and Peachtree Industrial look like when complete? I'm under the assumption that there is supposed to be a C/D system of bridges and ramps between Buford hwy and the Chamblee-Dunwoody road exits? I bleeping hate that area during peak traffic times because of the last minute weaving of traffic to catch the exit to P.I.B.