Tom Moreland Interchange
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.[1]
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[edit] Type of interchange
The interchange is a stack interchange. Because of the northeast-to-southwest service-level road that passes over the entire interchange, of which it is a part, Spaghetti Junction is a five-level stack, not a traditional four-level stack.[citation needed] It contains 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.[2]
[edit] Origin of nickname
After Gravelly Hill Junction in Birmingham, UK, which had opened two years before that, and earned its nickname by locals.
[edit] Popular Culture
This is the titular feature of the Outkast song Spaghetti Junction on their 2000 album Stankonia.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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- Satellite image from WikiMapia, Google Maps or Windows Live Local
- Street map from MapQuest or Google Maps
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image from TerraServer-USA
