State Breaks Ground On GA-400, I-285 Reconstruction Project

SANDY SPRINGS, GA -- State officials descended onto Sandy Springs Thursday morning to break ground on the project to reconstruct the S.R. 400/I-285 interchange.

Gov. Nathan Deal was joined by Georgia Department of Transportation Commissioner Russell McMurry, State Transportation Board member Mark Burkhalter and local elected officials and stakeholders for the groundbreaking.

The design-build-finance construction project "serves as a model for public-private partnerships, is expected to be completed in 2020 and will generate cost savings of approximately $300 million," the state contends.

“This interchange improvement project will address traffic congestion and improve safety for one of the most congested intersections in our highway system,” said Deal. “The design-build-finance contracting method used in this project will save taxpayers roughly $300 million, funding that has already been reinvested into other transportation projects around the state to complement our 10-year, $10 billion plan. Investments such as this one are essential to providing congestion relief for commuters and preparing our infrastructure for more freight and business traffic so that Georgia can remain the No. 1 state in which to do business – a distinction we earned for the fourth year in a row just yesterday.”

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.

“This $800 million investment to improve this interchange will stand as the centerpiece of a larger connected network of highway improvements that will move people – in cars and transit vehicles – over the next decade," McMurry added.

The total project budget is approximately $800 million, including $10 million from Perimeter Community Improvement Districts (CIDs), $1 million from the PATH Foundation, $1 million from the city of Sandy Springs and partial financing from GDOT project partner North Perimeter Contractors, LLC.

The Perimeter CIDs are home to more than 123,000 Georgians and 5,000 businesses, including three Fortune 500 companies. This same public-private partnership model is currently in use on the Northwest Corridor express lanes project on Interstate 75.

“This project is the start of a major upgrade of the transportation network around metro Atlanta,” Burkhalter added. “The next decade of planned improvements along I-285 and SR 400 will change the way we think about mobility and travel options as our state continues to grow and be an economic leader.”

Limited construction related activities including geotechnical work, surveying and inspections are underway, with major construction set to begin in the first quarter of 2017.

Ongoing project details are available here.

Image via city of Sandy Springs