On Tuesday, February 2nd, the Gwinnett County Department of Transportation (GCDOT) opened the first of 4 sections of the Sugarloaf Parkway extension, Phase 1. Section 1 extends the parkway 2 miles (3.2 km) from GA 20 between Lawrenceville and Grayson to New Hope Road.

The extension is a fully limited-access highway with a 44-foot (13.4 m) median and 16-foot (4.9 m) shoulders and has a maximum speed limit of 55 MPH (90 km/h) for most of its length. For a GCDOT map of Section 1, please click here.

Within the next 3 years, three more sections will be built as follows...

Section 2: New Hope Road to Martins Chapel Road/Bramlett Shoals Road (currently under construction and should be open in mid-2011). Please click here for a map.

Section 3A: Martins Chapel Road/Bramlett Shoals Road to Campbell Road (expected to open in mid-2012). Please click here for a map.

Section 3B: Campbell Road to US 29/GA 316 (expected to open late 2012) just south of Dacula. The interchange with 316 is to be a half-cloverleaf instead of at-grade. (No detailed map available from GCDOT at this time.)

Long-range plans (which seem to be Phase 2) are to extend Sugarloaf Parkway from 316 northward and westward, eventually ending at Peachtree Industrial Boulevard near Buford. As reported in my blog "Could Gwinnett Become Like Orlando?", this final phase of the parkway (a.k.a. Gwinnett Connector) may be built as a toll road. Here is my own map showing where I think it may be routed...


First chance I get, I'm going to drive the newly-opened section of the parkway to try it out for myself, and perhaps get some video footage for a future "ROADGEEK-CAM!!!" episode.

Recently, a blog reader whose property borders the newly-opened parkway section posted a comment regarding a lack of fencing and asked how they could address this issue. If it were me, I'd start with contacting my local elected officials. That being said, it is not my policy to get personally involved with any individual or group disputes related to this or any other road project. I will (and do) offer my opinions as both a roadgeek and a private citizen, but that is as far as I wish to go. To the reader who posted the comment in question, I wish them the best in their endeavor.

Finally, here's a YouTube video I recently found featuring a butt-kickin' "road song" from the early 1990's...



That's it for now. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed the video, and please come back often.

SOURCES:
- Sugarloaf Parkway Extension website, Gwinnett County Department of Transportation
- "Gwinnett Opens New Section of Sugarloaf Parkway", Atlanta Journal-Constitution, February 2, 2010

        

 

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