Atlanta

[Tom958]

I think once it's complete, drivers on I 285 EB will enter the ramp to go on SR 400 near the I 285 EB to Roswell Road ramp (maybe on the same one).  Then they will continue under Roswell road, under the Roswell Road to I 285 EB ramp, and then will have to decide whether to go to Glenridge Drive or SR 400 N or S. 

This should help so that people going from Roswell Road to I 285 E will only have to weave with Ashford Dunwoody bound traffic instead of SR 400 bound traffic.

But then you will have people merging from Roswell Road unto the SR 400/Glenridge ramp, possibly creating an issue with weaving on the ramp.

This is an early plan, including signage. The design of the core of the project changed radically years ago, but the peripheral ramps and CDs we're discussing didn't change that much. And here's the current layout, which I discovered in June of 2018. I don't know exactly when it was adopted.

[Georgia Guardrail]

Looks like I 285 EB to SR 400 traffic enters the ramp right before the Roswell Road bridge.  Yeah I remember they were originally going to have both directions of SR 400 go over I 285 but changed it now so they will go under.  This means they will have to replace the I 285 bridge over SR 400.  They'll probably just have enough room to fit a 6 lane freeway under the new bridge.

Anybody have any clue on when the Abernathy diverging diamond will open?  I imagine it will be September.  They probably have to put SR 400 south traffic back on the normal alignment first.  Looks like they still have some work to do on that south bound SR 400 bridge over Abernathy.

[Tom958]

Looks like I 285 EB to SR 400 traffic enters the ramp right before the Roswell Road bridge.

Moving those two-lane on- and offramps outboard of the mainline west of Roswell Road and east of Ashford Dunwoody has always been a key to what little capacity increase the project provides.

Yeah I remember they were originally going to have both directions of SR 400 go over I 285 but changed it now so they will go under.  This means they will have to replace the I 285 bridge over SR 400.  They'll probably just have enough room to fit a 6 lane freeway under the new bridge.

The original design would've retained all the original bridges except southbound 400 over 285 and the ramp from westbound 285 to southbound 400. The redesign replaces the 285 bridges over Peachtree Dunwoody and Glenridge as well as 400. 

Anybody have any clue on when the Abernathy diverging diamond will open?  I imagine it will be September.  They probably have to put SR 400 south traffic back on the normal alignment first.  Looks like they still have some work to do on that south bound SR 400 bridge over Abernathy.

I dunno. I don't pay that much attention to it, but I thought it'd be later than that. The biggest impediment I see is the need to do away with that heinous left-side onramp to southbound 400.

[Tomahawkin]

Yeah I hate that left handed ramp from Abernathy to 400 southbound. Its bad at 11am and 2pm. I cant imagine what its like at peak rush hours. A lot of people are still unfamiliar with the ramp process based on the last minute weaving 3+ lanes to catch the ramps to 285. Also I see too many people doing 70mph plus in that area even with rain pouring down...SMH

[Georgia Guardrail]

Allegedly a new entrance before Ashford Dunwoody for the I 285 WB to SR 400 ramp will open up the Monday after next. 

I wonder if this will be the final alignment that has the ramp beginning right after the Chamblee Dunwoody interchange?   

Or will it just be another temporary entrance point like the newest alignment of the ramp to Peachtree Dunwoody which begins right before the Ashford Dunwoody bridge?

https://mailchi.mp/0b98a44a687c/transform-285400-new-access-285eastbound-13413465?e=49127c21f4,%20https://mailchi.mp/0b98a44a687c/transform-285400-new-access-285eastbound-13413465?e=49127c21f4

[Tom958]

Allegedly a new entrance before Ashford Dunwoody for the I 285 WB to SR 400 ramp will open up the Monday after next. 

I wonder if this will be the final alignment that has the ramp beginning right after the Chamblee Dunwoody interchange?   

Or will it just be another temporary entrance point like the newest alignment of the ramp to Peachtree Dunwoody which begins right before the Ashford Dunwoody bridge?

https://mailchi.mp/0b98a44a687c/transform-285400-new-access-285eastbound-13413465?e=49127c21f4,%20https://mailchi.mp/0b98a44a687c/transform-285400-new-access-285eastbound-13413465?e=49127c21f4

It should be permanent, or close to it. The current exit to Peachtree Dunwoody is permanent, too, though for reasons that are unclear to me, part of the ramp is diverted onto the eventual ramp to 400 instead of on its eventual location. Hopefully, they'll address that before opening the new ramp-- that's probably why they're closing that ramp for the entire weekend. Of course, the gore area at 285 needs a great deal of work, too.

So, looks like I was wrong: the new offramp from westbound will open well before The Big Scrunch. Doing that will make it possible and necessary to remove this battleaxe assembly and its gantry. It'll be interesting to see how they go about signing the new offramp, though. Will they manage to erect an overhead or two by then, as they're doing on the eastbound side?




As you can see here, the outboard post for that gantry appears to be right at the edge of the left lane of the permanent ramp to 400. Hence the "necessary" above.

[Georgia Guardrail]

Looks like the I-285 WB to SR 400 ramp changes have been delayed at least till next week.  Was looking forward to not having to merge with folks coming off of Ashford Dunwoody to get onto SR 400.  Oh well, look forward to when it does happen. 

Especially looking forward to when the new ramp from I-285 EB to SR 400 opens.  Such a confusing intersection there, especially with the street markings showing conflicting signs.

[Tom958]

Looks like the I-285 WB to SR 400 ramp changes have been delayed at least till next week.  Was looking forward to not having to merge with folks coming off of Ashford Dunwoody to get onto SR 400.  Oh well, look forward to when it does happen. 

Especially looking forward to when the new ramp from I-285 EB to SR 400 opens.  Such a confusing intersection there, especially with the street markings showing conflicting signs.

I think it's gonna be a major clusterfrig because there'll no longer be overhead signage for that ramp, just a few additions to the forest of signage on the right roadside. The existing overhead signage is a mess, but it's correct as far as lane assignments and the public is used to the current arrangement. I'd go so far as to delay opening of that ramp until at least one gantry is up, as is apparently being done on the eastbound side.

[Tom958]

The new and permanent offramp from I-285 to GA 400 opened this morning at 5:50am, fifty minutes behind schedule. I'm told that not all the advance signage made it into place, and between that, a lack of notice to the driving public, and normal driver obliviousness, the CD down to Roswell Road was jammed all day with people who'd missed the new exit to 400 and who thus had to turn around. That would've badly impeded traffic from 400 to westbound 285, too.

I saw one online AJC story about it yesterday, but GDOT's Facebook page didn't mention it until five hours after it opened. The aborted attempt two weeks ago was promoted better.

Here's a not-too-long video that shows the new layout pretty well, as well as the congestion on the Roswell Road CD.

What my crew calls the skanky gantry will be removed in the near future. For now, though, it's still up with the signs for 400 tarped over, to direct traffic to (or away from) the Roswell Road exit.

[Georgia Guardrail]

Sounds like the new I-285 WB to SR 400 ramp opening was a mess.  Any idea when 400 SB over Abernathy is going to be realigned from the CD lanes it uses now?  I'm thinking late August maybe?

[Tomahawkin]

Why Roswell Road over 285 wasnt widened during this whole project is beyond me! I hate that road with a passion between the MARTA Buses, the middle suicide lane and the pedrestrians that use it, Im trying more and more to avoid it. Its probaly the most cluster#### of a road along that stretch of 285? That along with Ashford/Dunwoody, the DDI there does little at peak traffic times

[Georgia Guardrail]

Big fire today under the Ashford Dunwoody bridge over I-285.  I wonder if it will need to be replaced.  Just like the I-85 viaduct burndown in 2017. 

https://www.11alive.com/article/traffic/fiery-crash-blocks-all-lanes-on-i-285/85-7b642e54-5b48-4e9b-99da-4e8419eb6054

[Tomahawkin]

Hey GDOT, and Natalie Dale, get this Bleeping 400/285 interchange finished! It's back at a Snails pace again! It's looking like this will take another 2 years to finish! And why in the hell wasn't the Roswell Road interchange destroyed and rebuilt? That road sucks ass period from Abernathy to 285 and points south

[Georgia Guardrail]

Hey GDOT, and Natalie Dale, get this Bleeping 400/285 interchange finished! It's back at a Snails pace again! It's looking like this will take another 2 years to finish! And why in the hell wasn't the Roswell Road interchange destroyed and rebuilt? That road sucks ass period from Abernathy to 285 and points south

I wonder what will be done first.  The I-95/I-16 Interchange in Savannah or Transform 285/400.  My bet is on the former. 

I remember initially back in 2017-2019 there was no construction work being done on the 285/400 project on Sundays.  Tons of perfect weather days wasted.  Probably because GDOT didn't want to pay a higher rate.  Now ironically it's cost them a lot more with the delays causing the project to finish mid-2023 at best.

[Tomahawkin]

Makes sense. Now I wonder how they will add 4 toll lanes with limited room by the north springs MARTA Station

[Tomahawkin]

Got caught up in the daily traffic diaster on 285 from spaghetti junction down to IH 20. IMO no way in hell will adding a toll lane in each direction solve the daily fraffic on 285 in Dekalb county! There needs to be 2 toll lanes added in each direction. 1 lane as currently purposed is putting a band aid on a bullet wound. @ 1pm today it looked like 60 percent of the traffic today were big rig trucks???

[Tom958]

Got caught up in the daily traffic diaster on 285 from spaghetti junction down to IH 20. IMO no way in hell will adding a toll lane in each direction solve the daily fraffic on 285 in Dekalb county! There needs to be 2 toll lanes added in each direction. 1 lane as currently purposed is putting a band aid on a bullet wound. @ 1pm today it looked like 60 percent of the traffic today were big rig trucks???

Several months ago, GDOT announced that there'd be two managed lanes in each direction on east- and westside 285, not just one as originally proposed. I'm pretty sure we discussed it here, too, though I'm not gonna look it up.

[Tomahawkin]

Good deal...OT is it me or is the 400/285 interchange construction 1+ years behind schedule??? The traffic tie ups at the exit ramps before the interchange will still be a problem after completion, IMO

[Tom958]

Good deal...OT is it me or is the 400/285 interchange construction 1+ years behind schedule??? The traffic tie ups at the exit ramps before the interchange will still be a problem after completion, IMO

At least. I'm hearing now that The Big Scrunch (narrowing the 285 mainline from eight lanes to six) will be in two weeks, after first having been set for June, IIRC. The switch of the eastbound 285 offramp to 400 and Glenridge to its permanent location is set for September 19, which is Monday morning. I guess they didn't learn anything from last time.

[Tomahawkin]

Good, I heard it on the news this morning. I live off Roswell road and that merge between there and 400 is awful! Ditto the merge on 285 WB between Ashford Dunwoody and 400!

[Georgia Guardrail]

Thing I worry about with the new ramp opening is people going from Roswell Road to Glenridge Connector.  Wouldn't they have to merge over 3 lanes in a short time to get there?  That could be kind of dicey.

[Tom958]

Thing I worry about with the new ramp opening is people going from Roswell Road to Glenridge Connector.  Wouldn't they have to merge over 3 lanes in a short time to get there?  That could be kind of dicey.

Yes, they will. Hopefully not many people will try it. Also, traffic bound from 285 to 400 will have to vacate the right lane of the two-lane ramp because it's an exit only for Glenridge. It would've been better if they'd gotten the overheads in place there before opening.

[Tom958]

The permanent offramp from eastbound I-285 to Glenridge Drive and GA 400, advertised as being open by Monday morning, was in fact opened before noon on Sunday. A friend spotted it on a traffic cam and I drove on it a little after 1 pm. The temporary signage is similar to that for its westbound counterpart opened a few weeks ago, with an overhead (an overlay on existing signage) at the one mile mark and the rest at grade. It seemed a lot smoother to drive, though, probably because the interference from perpetual backup at the Ashford Dunwoody offramp has no counterpart in the eastbound direction.

Of course, the two-lane ramp is a breeze compared to the mess that was there before, yea unto the original widening in the late seventies. The ramp is two lanes all the way until it converges with the also-two-lane ramp from westbound 285 to northbound 400 to form the four-lane northbound CD toward Abernathy and northbound 400. Unusually, the shoulder is on the left side of the new ramp instead of the right, presumably because the 42-inch-tall parapet obstructs sight distance. Too bad they couldn't afford a full shoulder on both sides.

The one drawback is that a ramp from Roswell Road is added to the left side of the ramp (here's how it looked in May) and the right lane is dropped at the Glenridge offramp (I'm guessing) maybe 1500 feet downstream, requiring 400-bound traffic to shift left. It would've been very helpful to have the overheads in place there, especially since the new ramp's westbound counterpart doesn't require a similar shift. I would be surprised if there are problems there, both Monday morning and into the future.

The existing signage mounted on the Roswell Road bridge is now devoid of text and shields. They need to sign the Ashford Dunwoody exit there. Hopefully that'll happen before Monday rush hour.

It's off the immediate topic, but during my visit I discovered that the auxiliary lane connecting the eastbound onramp from Ashford Dunwoody to the offramp at Chanblee Dundoody has been reopened. The harrowing short merge there has been eliminated. Now, if they could do the same in the westbound direction...Also off topic, it appears that it'll be a long while before the final configuration of 400 southbound will open, so the horrifying left-hand onramp from Abernathy will persist for months, I'd say.

[Georgia Guardrail]

I'm surprised they are taking so long to re-open the SR 400 south realignment.  I thought that would be done before the recent ramp openings on I-285.    Think it will be done before the I-285 lane closures in late October?

[Tom958]

I'm surprised they are taking so long to re-open the SR 400 south realignment.  I thought that would be done before the recent ramp openings on I-285.    Think it will be done before the I-285 lane closures in late October?

No. I photographed it from the Mount Vernon Road overpass on Sunday, and it's plain that there's a lot more still to do there.