I-85 Landscaping Project Takes Shape in Suwanee

Suwanee officials have begun another project that is designed to improve the Gateway area near I-85.

Workers recently began a landscaping effort along Lawrenceville-Suwanee Road near Exit 117 that will include trees and streetscaping. The project runs from Sawmill Drive to the new police substation just south of I-85, according to a city news release.

Eleven plazas, which will include benches and trash cans as well as landscaping, and two smaller seating areas are being created on each side of the interstate ramps and around the intersection, the release said.

Also, the I-85 ramps will be re-landscaped. The project will includes 161 elm, maple, crepe myrtle, and magnolia trees; 6,146 holly, juniper, and rose bushes; 4,255 plugs of liriope; and more than an acre of sod.

The Brickman Group of Lawrenceville has been contracted to do the landscaping work for about $285,000. The project is expected to be finished around the beginning of 2013.

Upgrading the Gateway area, which has been hit hard in recent years by business failures, was a high priority with citizens in the recent 20/20 Vision survey.

Recent improvements in the area include , but a new self-storage facility that was approved by City Council in October.

-- What is your reaction to the Gateway area improvements in Suwanee? What other ideas do you have? Share them in the comments below.

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