As of today, the reconstruction of the I-85/GA 316 interchange in Gwinnett County is complete!

Please click here to read the AJC article.

Even though this reconstruction process was years overdue in the execution due to the phenomenal growth of Gwinnett County and the traffic along both I-85 and GA 316, this project was completed at least a couple of months ahead of schedule. Kudos to GDOT and the contractors for that.

Part of the reconstructed interchange includes new HOV exits to GA 316 and HOV lanes on GA 316, the first non-Interstate road in Georgia to have such lanes. In fact, AFAIK, there are no other non-Interstate freeways anywhere in the southeastern U.S. that have HOVs. If I'm wrong, please feel free to correct me.

The first 5 miles of GA 316 is limited-access, but don't look for the remaining portion from GA 120 to Athens to be upgraded soon. However, the limited-access will be slightly extended when its current intersection with Collins Hill Road in Lawrenceville is converted to an interchange, construction to start in 2010.

When the Sugarloaf Parkway extension between Lawrenceville and Grayson is completed from GA 20 back to US 29/GA 316, it's end, fortunately will be constructed as an interchange instead of an intersection, thank goodness.

<SOAPBOX>
Given that GA 316 is not limited-access from GA 120 to Athens, I do wonder if GDOT was interested more in saving money by building it as a surface road. Frankly, IMHO, this defeated the entire purpose of having a high-speed corridor between Atlanta and Athens.

I remember growing up in Snellville and seeing the traffic on US 78/GA 10 backed up for miles (yes, literally, miles) on University of Georgia (UGA) game weekends. Widening 78 from I-285 to Athens was a step in the right direction, but GDOT had the opportunity to design and build 316 as a full-blown freeway, and frankly, they blew it. Years later, GDOT came back with a public-private proposal to upgrade 316 and convert it to a tollway... another bad idea IMHO.

Now, with the crappy economy, the state budget crunch (Georgia being about $2,000,000,000 "in the hole"), and having to spend $700,000,000,000 in our Federal taxpayer money to bail out banks for the bad loans they gave, there is hardly the money necessary to keep up existing infrastructure (roads, bridges, etc.), much less build new roads and upgrade 316 to what it should've been in the first place.

GDOT spent millions of our taxpayer dollars on the Governor's Road Improvement Program (GRIP), which mostly involved widening not-so-heavily traveled roads into 4-lane highways. If you want a prime example of what I am blogging about, travel US 27/GA 1 in Floyd and Chattoga Counties, or the same route between Columbus and the Florida state line. I have traveled these segments of 27 and can tell you that, as a driver, I practically had the highway all to myself for the majority of the time.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm all for economic development, but on the other hand, I feel that our state and Federal road monies need to be spent where most needed, and for the longest time, they have been needed in Metro Atlanta and Athens, two fast-growing regions of the state.

Given the current budget crisis, I do hope that GDOT will make sure that the monies on hand are used judiciously and that projects are truly prioritized according to need. This, IMHO, means that they need to put a moratorium on authorizing any further GRIP projects and concentrate more on the Atlanta region and it's traffic issues. After all, Atlanta is the economic heart and engine of Georgia, thus it behooves all Georgians to see that Atlanta is healthy.
</SOAPBOX>

And finally, here's a Flickr page of Knoxville SmartFix40 photos taken by Adam Prince, plus Adam's newest blogsite, Carolina Crossroads and Small Towns, featuring photos of small town scenery from his home state of North Carolina. Kudos to Adam for his excellent photography and I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

That's it for now. Thanks for reading and please come back often.

 

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