285/400 interchange project plans coming soon (Atlanta, Dunwoody: 2014, condos, construction)

[toll_booth]

AJC exclusive: rebuilding the Ga. 400/I-285 interchange | www.ajc.com

As of tomorrow, you'll be able to see the plans if you have a myAJC subscription. Not sure when they will be made available to the general public.

[Born 2 Roll]

I'm happy that they're going to get around to fixing the interchange way before the post-2031 date that was originally planned.

(...The interchange is already about 25 years behind schedule....Which I guess is better than being more 40 years behind schedule as was originally planned.)

From what I understand, the Perimeter Center CID came up with half of the amount of the cost of reconstructing the interchange by taxing itself.

If it wasn't for the Perimeter Center CID taxing itself to raise the half of the cost of reconstruction, the project would likely never have gotten done as sometime after 2031 would have been an extremely-optimistic estimated date for the start of construction on the long-overdue project.

[sedimenjerry]

It's much needed. 400SB going from 4 lanes to 2 is killer in the afternoon. The ramp to 285W is the main culprit but the loop to 285E can be dangerous. So many times traffic will just suddenly go from 60 to a stop in a few hundred feet. I've learned to just sit back so I don't get into a mess. I can't see the plans but I hope they do something with Ashford Dunwoody and Ptree Dunwoody for 285W. It's a mess in the morning.

[erick295]

They just rebuilt the Ashford Dunwoody interchange. What you should be hoping for is the Peachtree Dunwoody and Glenridge interchanges to be fixed. It's crazy that they're only one way.

[netdragon]

There isn't much that can be done about I-400. "If you build it, they will come". Four years after they do this upgrade, Perimeter Center will just fill in even more than highrise condos and the like.

Perimeter Center and Cumberland both have it in common that as far as car traffic goes, long-term they are both doomed.

[sedimenjerry]

It's not the Ashford Dunwoody interchange itself, it's that the entrance ramp for 285W turns into the exit only lane for 400N and in between that is the exit for Ptree Dunwoody. But yes expanded access to 285 is needed but with the close proximity would really complicate things.

[ATLTJL]

Merging onto GA 400 into the left lane with only a couple of hundred feet before you have to get over is a disaster. I'm amazed multiple people aren't killed every day on this ill-thought out junction.

[JoeP]

Unless:

A) those on 285WB are forced to exit for 400 North before Ashford Dunwoody Rd

or B) Those on Ashford Dunwoody Rd headed WB on 285 have a separate dedicated lane that isolates them from people on 285 blocking them in (because those already on 285 WB who are headed to 400 NB block people on Ashford Dunwoody exiting to 285 West)

then changes won't matter much. This problem alone causes massive delays. The DDI interchange didn't solve for this (and couldn't). However, it actually made 285 WB exit worse as it reduced the lanes to exit Ashford Dunwoody.

[Born 2 Roll]

I guess it should be noted that the DDI (Diverging Diamond Interchange) at I-285 and Ashford Dunwoody Road was not meant to be the final solution to that severely-congested interchange.

The DDI at I-285 & Ashford Dunwoody Rd was constructed because it was the cheapest available solution for the extremely-limited and rapidly-dwindling funding that the Georgia Department of Transportation has on hand.

Also, as noted in the article link above, the reconstruction of the I-285/GA 400 interchange is going to be so costly and create so much more debt that, combined with continued dwindling amounts of federal aid from Washington, other large-scale road construction projects will most-likely be completely out of the question for many years to come...

...That's because the State of Georgia by way of GDOT will have nearly maxed-out its large-scale borrowing capacity after borrowing approximately $250 million to fund the long-overdue reconstruction of the highly-flawed I-285/GA 400 interchange.

The State of Georgia will also be even more hard-pressed for transportation funding after funding the reconstruction of the I-285/GA 400 interchange because federal funding (which supposedly makes up about 62% of Georgia's transportation budget) is expected to decline substantially in coming years because of continuing extreme fiscal challenges in Washington.

Enjoy the I-285/GA 400 reconstruction project, because as things stand now, it might be the last large-scale road reconstruction project that Metro Atlanta sees for a very-long time unless the state finds some kind of way to come up with a road maintenance budget for future years and decades.

[bornjacksonian]

Here is the link to the projected project. http://media.cmgdigital.com/shared/n.../GA400_285.pdf I am thankful all the time that I don't have to commute across the top end daily for work. My last trip across the top end was mid-May on a Saturday night lol.