Tom Moreland Interchange
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Tom Moreland Interchange, colloquially also known as Spaghetti Junction, is the intersection of the major roadways Interstate 85 and Interstate 285, along with several access roads, in northern DeKalb County, Georgia, just northeast of Atlanta, Georgia, USA. It is named for Tom Moreland, a former commissioner of the Georgia Department of Transportation (1974-1987).
I-85 is a major traffic corridor from the northeastern suburbs of Atlanta in the Gwinnett County area into downtown Atlanta. I-285 is a beltway around Atlanta. In the northern I-285 corridor, in the area from I-85 counterclockwise to I-75, there has been a large amount of development of office space. Spaghetti Junction was designed to remove choke points and reduce congestion in the I-85 and I-285 interchange, which had been a cloverleaf.
[edit] Type of interchange
The interchange is a five-level stack, with additional ramps to accommodate traffic on three nearby side roads. The interchange currently handles approximately 300,000 vehicles each day. It has 14 bridges, the highest rising 90 feet above I-85. The newer interchange replaced an older cloverleaf interchange dating back to 1958 and was constructed between 1979 and 1984 as part of the Freeing the Freeways program to relieve congestion on Atlanta-area interstates.
[edit] Origin of nickname
After Gravelly Hill Junction in Birmingham, UK, which had opened two years before that, and earned its nickname by locals.
