Georgia really doesn't do expressways, but US 27-US 280-GA 520 has evolved into an exception. It's been four lanes for a long time, I guess since the fifties or maybe since the WW2 era, but over the decades it's been upgraded, interchanges added, and access points revised and/or removed. From the general appearance, I'm guessing this work was done by the Corps of Engineers rather than GDOT. I find it interesting-- maybe you will, too.
This is I-185 southbound approaching Fort Benning (https://www.google.com/maps/@32.4246603,-84.9338754,14z). I-185 was six laned down to St Mary's road a while back, in the '90's, IIRC. The section from there to Fort Benning is more recent, since 2010, and involved straightening out a 50 mph S curve. The pavement was removed and replaced with all-concrete lanes and shoulders, even where the road wasn't realigned.
As you see, there's a lane drop exit for US 280-GA 520 westbound-- there's a recently-added flyover ramp for the opposite direction, too. It looks weird on a map, but that's definitely the heaviest turning movement through the interchange. Too bad that there's no arterial (or any road at all!) cutting off that rather extreme corner:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FTJEjZTI.jpg&hash=cbf40d112502a6c13b5eedab05eef0f46aef0a30)
At the I-185-US 27-US 280-GA 520 interchange, a grand gateway to Fort Benning has been built. It looks pretty spectacular, actually. Directly in front of the bridge, FORT BENNING GEORGIA is incised into the buff-colored precast. Leaving the base (I worked there in 2011 and 2012), it's COLUMBUS GEORGIA. Embarassingly, the Steetview here (https://www.google.com/maps/@32.405684,-84.924389,3a,75y,162.34h,84.14t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sjFTkxlq5ymAQbGdyNaYgSg!2e0) is far better than my crappy photo. :no:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FCgiaOXY.jpg&hash=9aa7ff96dcead2d59fcbd6be961e9617a129461d)
A bit farther southeast on US 27 et al, there's this unusual interchange (https://www.google.com/maps/@32.4042841,-84.9138449,690m/data=!3m1!1e3). The northwestbound ramps are elevated to squeeze them in between the mainline lanes and the nearby Cusseta Road (the old highway, I presume) and railroad. I think that GDOT would've done a pair of panelized retaining walls instead.
Within Fort Benning, there's a median guardrail broken only at access points. Just beyond this interchange, there's a break for an emergency vehicle turnaround, and as we drove through, an ambulance made a U turn there for no obvious reason. :hmmm:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FQSDsJKj.jpg&hash=5ff17ebb1374eb9be45772d6c36204cc0bb87b94)
Further down, a new overpass, and older one, and a closed-off at-grade access point. Since I'm dumber than a box of rocks, it didn't occur to me that the new bridge is on a separate road for tanks and other heavy vehicles even though I noticed that the pier is solid like the ones for railroad bridges instead of being a two-column bent per GDOT practice. As you can see on the satellite view (https://www.google.com/maps/@32.3789039,-84.8691768,1380m/data=!3m1!1e3), the at-grade access point has been replaced by a trumpet interchange, though the at-grade facility has been barricaded off rather than removed. Perhaps it'll come in handy for some reason.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FZUpiWHT.jpg&hash=38a1af3c9fb64b2675748c75ec0388e10c50ad6d)
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2Fa8UPgTW.jpg&hash=397ecb83ea3d47f6dc2e1e5e1157ba5943a50916)
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2Fkyws3zs.jpg&hash=a8ca139e65e6094422af919cefd869ae87a263e6)
A little further southeast, there's this pedestrian bridge (https://www.google.com/maps/@32.3689864,-84.8554761,690m/data=!3m1!1e3). I wouldn't be surprised if they use golf carts to get around the base-- that would explain why the bridge and its approaches are step free. There's another bridge like this over Lindsay Creek Parkway (the unnumbered late '70's extension of I-185) (https://www.google.com/maps/@32.3696437,-84.9230012,173m/data=!3m1!1e3).
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FmT7A3jG.jpg&hash=7aec7d57cfbec41d01cd93075c219c6110cde1eb)
Finally, well off the base on the other side of Cusseta, there's a permanent speed warning sign (https://www.google.com/maps/@32.301983,-84.78428,3a,75y,111.12h,84.62t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sXqiztvGeJ4fbQmcYjiSCiA!2e0). Between its unusualness and the fact that it informed me that I was doing 64 in a 55 zone, I got so flustered that I not only didn't get a photo, but also failed to make the right turn (at the intersection at the bottom of the hill) to stay on US 27 and had to make a U turn. Fortunately, there was an unusually prominent reassurance (or not!) sign for US 280-GA 520, so I noticed my mistake promptly. My family will be coming that way in the near future-- the feature that confused me can serve as a landmark for them. :clap:
I was noticing that US 27/280 was basically a freeway east of I-185 through Fort Benning when looking at Google Street View a few weeks ago.
A lot of the work was probably done by the Army Department of Public Works (not exactly the Corps of Engineers; at least the DPW is what it is called at Redstone Arsenal here in Huntsville) coordinating with GDOT.
Days later...
I didn't know there was such a thing. Thanks!