Crews To Begin Site Clearing For GA-400/I-285 Interchange Project

SANDY SPRINGS, GA -- The activity around plans to rebuild the S.R. 400 interchange with Interstate 285 will soon begin to pick up steam.

North Perimeter Contractors, the private sector partner with the Georgia Department of Transportation, will begin site preparation and landscape clearing related to the improvement project.

GDOT said the site prep will begin Wednesday, Feb. 8, and both day and night-time work is scheduled.

Site preparation and landscape clearing will begin on the southbound side of S.R. 400 between the Mt. Vernon Highway bridge and Abernathy Road. Once that's complete, North Perimeter Contractors will begin site prep work on S.R. 400 northbound, moving south from Abernathy Road to the Mt. Vernon Highway bridge.

Albert Welch, Georgia DOT program delivery engineer for major projects, said motorist can expect to see crews removing trees and other vegetation from the right of way and within the interchange for the new collector-distributor lanes that will be constructed.

“This will be the first visible sign of our progress toward improving traffic flow and safety in this very busy interchange," he added.

The I-285/SR 400 interchange improvement project includes 4.3 miles of improvements on I-285 from west of Roswell Road in Fulton County, to east of Ashford Dunwoody Road in DeKalb County and 6.2 miles on S.R. 400 from the Glenridge Connector to Spalding Drive.

Motorists can also expect to see enhancements such as the construction of new flyover ramps, new collector-distributor lanes and other facilities to aid east-west travel on I-285 and north-south travel along S.R. 400.

The project also includes a diverging diamond interchange on Abernathy Road at S.R. 400 and an extension of the PATH 400 trail system to inside the perimeter. The completed project is expected to save commuters who travel the corridor eight hours per year and reduce daily delays for all users of the interchange by 20,000 hours.

Work on the design-build-finance construction project, which is estimated to cost $800 million, should be completed in 2020.

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