As temperatures soar during the end of the summer motorists are becoming as hot under the collar, as they are in on the roadway, as delays on the connector and I-285 continue to have big trouble spots. We’ve watched as 4 lanes of Downtown Connector in both directions shut down between Capitol Avenue and the 10th Street for striping and paving, as the NB I-285 lanes closed in two directions, the 2 lanes between Old National Hwy and Camp Creek Pkwy, and even 1 lane has closed off and on from Martin Luther King Jr. Drive to the I-20 connector on the west side.
On the other side of town the I-285 entrance and exit ramps from Glenwood Road to Chamblee Tucker Road have closed from time to time. On any given day one or the other side of I-285 will be closed down on the NB or the SB side and on the 3 EB lanes between Langhorn Street and McDaniel, are often closed. Lanes in Riverdale Road and Cleveland Avenue have been closed nightly. and on I-75 NB, two lanes seem to always be closed between Mount Paran and Cumberland Blvd.
The questions is, when will the dust settle, and all of the noise and construction quiet down to?
In the next 3.5- 4 years Atlanta’s interstates and some of her inner city streets will look a lot different. Construction is already underway to add 52 miles of managed express lanes to I-75 N and south of the city, and even along I-85 into Gwinnett County. If you drive along I-75 through Marietta, we can’t miss the equipment and orange cones and multiple sites.
By the year 2018, reversible express lanes are expected to help ease the congestion through busy NW Corridors. It will, at least provide a choice. There will always be the general purpose lanes that the people can use, but the express lanes, although they tie up the traffic for months, when the time comes for using those lanes, they will be there. Eventually managed lanes should help drivers move past the Braves stadium traffic in Cobb County.
While congestion is everywhere in our city, and traffic officials are working to get the traffic moving all over the city, the promise of ease is on the rise on the express lanes as well as the inner city streets. Stay calm, we will weather this hectic traffic storm.