Metro Atlanta's Newest Freeway Opens

[georgiaroadgeek]

http://blog.georgiaroadgeek.com/2010/02/06/metro-atlantas-newest-freeway-opens.aspx

[jdb1234]

Is it me or does the proposal look like a bypass for SR 20?

[Bryant5493]

^^
Yeah, it looks like an alternate to S.R. 20 through downtown Lawrenceville, for those wishing to get to 316 East.


Be well,

Bryant

[2Co5_14]

This is another example of a county building a freeway using its own resources to speed up the project timetable, versus waiting years for the state to do it.  The Ronald Reagan Pkwy (also in Gwinnett) was built like this.  This illustrates a creative response to the general infrastructure funding crisis in the state (and for that matter, the country).

(This is my personal view, not necessarily that of GDOT)

[froggie]

The catch there is that freeways are expensive and few counties have the financial resources to go through with such an endeavor.

[Bryant5493]

Sugarloaf Pkwy. Extension [HD]

Be well,

Bryant

[Chris]

wtf @ 3:40

[Bryant5493]

^^

The fool ran the red light.


Be well,

Bryant

[deathtopumpkins]

Any particular reason the speed limit is only 45?

[Bryant5493]

^^

I think because it's under construction. Additionally, the first two curves are going to be signed at 45, then everything past that will be signed at 55, upon completion of the freeway (according to the Sugarloaf Parkway extension website).


Be well,

Bryant

[Stephane Dumas]

I dust-off this old thread, Google maps show the satellite imagery of land cleaning for the future interchange of Sugarloaf parkway with GA-316. http://goo.gl/maps/lJxxH It'll temporary end at GA-316 as a trumpet interchange until they got enough funds for future extension to I-85 and I-985.

Speaking of GA-316, I spotted this plan showing the upgrade planned at its junction with GA-20.
http://www.gwinnettcounty.com/static/departments/transportation/pdf/316_SR20_Contruction_Layout.pdf

[alex5793]

They have been working on the 316 at Sugarloaf interchange for over 18 months now....should be ready sometime next year.  DOT is also working on the SR 20 and Collins Hill at SR 316 interchanges....this will extend the SR 316 freeway and relieve a huge bottleneck from those who travel this corridor daily. 

Wondering if once both these projects are complete, that DOT or the County will look to restrict access and add interchanges between them, along 316.

[Henry]

And the sprawl continues to reach outward...

Nonetheless, should be interesting to see how the Gwinett Connector project Steve had mentioned will turn out. Especially with decades of anti-freeway sentiment that has run rampant throughout Atlanta for the last four decades or so.

[alex5793]

"And the sprawl continues to reach outward..."

As an Atlanta resident for the last 20 years, the sprawl might have been originally fueled by the "freeing of the freeways" in the 80's, but the overall lack of freeway lane-miles built ever since proves that the sprawl that has occurred since has nothing to do with the great infrastructure in the suburbs. Georgia spent a lot of their money in the 90's and 00's building four lane roads in rural areas.

Gwinnett County is fairly freeway-friendly, as they have built the Ronald Reagan Parkway, and are looking for ways to extend it to I-85, as well as the Sugarloaf Connector project.  Only problem is that these facilities are expensive....makes it tough for the County to do much else when these projects are funded.

[cpzilliacus]

And the sprawl continues to reach outward...

It's been an absolute matter of doctrine with the local Smart Growth industry that this is the case in the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area.  As a result very few freeway improvements or extensions have been built since the 1970's, and most of the  extensions have been toll roads - and the major improvements have been met by long-term and frantic opposition (consider the Wilson Bridge and Md. 200 (InterCounty Connector).  But that doctrine has not stopped residents and jobs from moving far beyond the Capital Beltway and far beyond the Metrorail system (some of which does extend beyond the Beltway).

Nonetheless, should be interesting to see how the Gwinett Connector project Steve had mentioned will turn out. Especially with decades of anti-freeway sentiment that has run rampant throughout Atlanta for the last four decades or so.

I assert that the anti-freeway sentiment by a relatively small and focused group of citizens and activists has been much stronger in and around Washington than it has been in  Atlanta.  At least Atlanta has a relatively complete urban freeway network. 

[cpzilliacus]

This is another example of a county building a freeway using its own resources to speed up the project timetable, versus waiting years for the state to do it.  The Ronald Reagan Pkwy (also in Gwinnett) was built like this.  This illustrates a creative response to the general infrastructure funding crisis in the state (and for that matter, the country).

(This is my personal view, not necessarily that of GDOT)

[Understand that you posted this in 2010]

I don't know how Georgia compares to Virginia in this regard.  In Northern Virginia, county governments (which normally have nothing to do with building or maintaining the highway network) have used their own dollars, and developer contributions, to build several major highways, including Va. 286 (f/k/a 7100, the Fairfax County Parkway) and part of Va. 234 and Va. 294 (f/k/a 3000, the Prince William Parkway), all of which were turned-over to VDOT for maintenance when completed.

[Henry]

And the sprawl continues to reach outward...

It's been an absolute matter of doctrine with the local Smart Growth industry that this is the case in the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area.  As a result very few freeway improvements or extensions have been built since the 1970's, and most of the  extensions have been toll roads - and the major improvements have been met by long-term and frantic opposition (consider the Wilson Bridge and Md. 200 (InterCounty Connector).  But that doctrine has not stopped residents and jobs from moving far beyond the Capital Beltway and far beyond the Metrorail system (some of which does extend beyond the Beltway).

Nonetheless, should be interesting to see how the Gwinett Connector project Steve had mentioned will turn out. Especially with decades of anti-freeway sentiment that has run rampant throughout Atlanta for the last four decades or so.

I assert that the anti-freeway sentiment by a relatively small and focused group of citizens and activists has been much stronger in and around Washington than it has been in  Atlanta.  At least Atlanta has a relatively complete urban freeway network. 

This is another example of a county building a freeway using its own resources to speed up the project timetable, versus waiting years for the state to do it.  The Ronald Reagan Pkwy (also in Gwinnett) was built like this.  This illustrates a creative response to the general infrastructure funding crisis in the state (and for that matter, the country).

(This is my personal view, not necessarily that of GDOT)

[Understand that you posted this in 2010]

I don't know how Georgia compares to Virginia in this regard.  In Northern Virginia, county governments (which normally have nothing to do with building or maintaining the highway network) have used their own dollars, and developer contributions, to build several major highways, including Va. 286 (f/k/a 7100, the Fairfax County Parkway) and part of Va. 234 and Va. 294 (f/k/a 3000, the Prince William Parkway), all of which were turned-over to VDOT for maintenance when completed.

Those new highways alone may have given those former DC residents and jobs some sort of reason to move outside the Beltway. Perhaps the powers that be should've seen it coming when they cancelled the District's many unbuilt freeways in 1977.

[Chris]

Suburban population growth is far more than the central city ever lost. Suburban growth is not just people moving out of the cities to the suburbs. The Atlanta metro area has over 5.2 million people, while city itself lost only about 70,000 people from its peak. Atlanta is a magnet for people from other states, most of whom settle in the suburbs.

[Tom958]

It's open to GA 316 now, but eastbound only. I don't know when the westbound lanes will open-- the bridge over 316 must be completed first.

For a parkway, Sugarloaf is remarkably ugly. It adheres exactly to the uninteresting standards it was built to, it has no landscaping, and often has concrete pavement where there could've at least been vegetation. The Reagan is also of uniform design, but the cross section is unique (in Atlanta, anyway), it has some scenic 45 mph curves through a creek valley, and it's generously (though not opulently) landscaped. I was ambivalent about the Reagan when in was built, but I must admit that it's attractive, and it's well regarded by the community, too. By contrast, Sugarloaf is pretty fail.

Really, the only thing parkway-like about Sugarloaf is the fact that trucks are banned from it. Banning trucks from the Reagan was somewhat justifiable-- a new terrain corridor was the best solution to the need for a multilane corridor there, and since it ran near existing neighborhoods, a political selling job was required. Plus, the sound of trucks would've echoed mightily through that creek valley I mentioned. But Sugarloaf is in (IMO) less sensitive territory, and is unlikely to attract significant truck traffic. Relegating trucks to an inferior route when a much better one exists is a bad idea, IMO.

EDIT: typo fixes

[NE2]

I assumed that trucks would be unbanned when it opened to SR 316.

[Tom958]

I assumed that trucks would be unbanned when it opened to SR 316.

Well, it's open now, and there aren't any no trucks signs at the 316 end, but the ones at the GA 20 end are still there. 

The bridges carrying Sugarloaf over 316 are one lane each; the westbound one is aligned with the right lane of the roadway further west, which... considering how the interchange might be built out if Sugarloaf is ever extended, I don't understand why they did that.

[alex5793]

I'll have to check out the interchange when I go to Athens the next time.  It does seem weird that they would not have at least a 30-40' wide overpass bridges for a future toll route northward to I-85 and I-985.