This entry was posted on 10/21/2011 8:51 PM and is filed under uncategorized.
Yesterday (Thursday), the Georgia DOT announced that as part of "RoadWorks2011", G.P.'s Enterprises, Inc., of Auburn, Georgia, has been awarded a $37,000,000 contract to upgrade about 2.2 miles (3.6 km) of Georgia 316 (a.k.a. "University Parkway") from the Georgia 120 interchange to Collins Hill Road and Georgia 20/124 (a.k.a. "Buford Drive") in Lawrenceville to a limited-access highway (GDOT Project ID 0004086).
Since Collins Hill Road and Buford Drive are spaced so close together, there will be a "collector-distributor" (C/D) ramp system to separate traffic going to (and coming from) both roads from mainline 316 through traffic, similar to the C/D setup GDOT built on I-85 from Pleasant Hill Road to GA 316, Sugarloaf Parkway, and GA 120.
The project will also include High-Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes on 316 from I-85 to Hi-Hope Road, just east of GA 20/124. Hopefully, given the controversy over the new I-85 HOT lanes, they will be "HOV-2" (2 persons per vehicle, including driver) and no tolls will be charged... but I'll believe it when I see it.
As early as at least the 1960s, the plan was to have an Atlanta-to-Athens Interstate-style freeway, but only the first 5 miles (9 km) of 316 was built as a freeway. In 1981, the segment from GA 120 to US 29/GA 8 (Winder Highway) was opened, and the final segments between Winder Highway and the Athens Perimeter (GA 10 Loop/422) in Oconee County were fully completed and open to traffic in 1995. With the exception of the interchange with US 78/GA 10, the highway was built as an "at-grade" surface road and subsequently riddled with traffic lights... especially in Gwinnett County.
IMHO, GDOT had the opportunity and the means (including funding, which is now not as plentiful as it used to be due to more fuel efficient vehicles) to "go the distance" and build 316 as a full-blown Interstate-style limited-access highway. Thanks to the shortsightedness of those who planned 316's extension over the last 30 years, we now have what I consider to be a sub-standard (and hazardous, in parts) highway that will require even more of our tax dollars to upgrade.
If you are on Facebook, and feel that 316 should be upgraded to a freeway, then please "like" Jefferson Taffet's page "Turn GA 316 Into A Limited Access Highway Without Tolls". I have "liked" it and hope you will as well.
For now, I am looking forward to the completion of the Collins Hill/Buford Road section being upgraded (estimated completion date: December 31, 2014), and hope that in my lifetime, I'll see the rest of 316 upgraded accordingly.
And finally, please click on the photo below for a very special message from "Mr. T"...
That's it for now. Thanks for reading, please "like" us on Facebook, and please come back often... or I might have to send "Mr. T" after you.
11/15/2011 7:42 AMHoward Rodgers wrote: This is the perfect lead into Tolling 316 even after we teh people squashed that idea years ago. If one takes time to notice there are Toll cameras already on 316 under the Boggs road bridge. If they are not shut down soon, SRTA and GDOT will calim that they have been there all along and since the entry/exit point from 316 was already tolled there should be no reason not to extend the toll to the Collins Hill area. Target = $$$ in Gwinnett. Reply to this
12/19/2011 9:38 PM
Billy wrote:
Informative article (the construction has begun) - I'm sick of Atlanta - were it not for work, I'd live in the Carolinas - I've lived in Greensboro, N.C. and Charlotte, N.C. both cities turned there traffic situations around. HOT lanes are the STUPIDIST idea I have seen - paying twice for roads... when will it stop? Reply to this
Copyright 2007. Steve Williams. All rights reserved.
DISCLAIMER: "The Georgia Road Geek" is neither affiliated with, nor endorsed by, the State of Georgia, Georgia Department of Transportation, or any other federal, state, or local government agency.
