Georgia State Route 515

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State Route 515
Zell Miller Mountain Parkway
South end:	I-575/S.R. 5/S.R. 372 at the Cherokee County/Pickens County line
Major junctions:	Blairsville, Blue Ridge, Ellijay, Jasper
North end:	North Carolina state line in Towns County near Lake Chatuge
Georgia State Routes < SR 500 SR 520 >

State Route 515 is a four-lane highway that begins at the northern terminus of I-575 at the Cherokee County/Pickens County line in northern Georgia. The route was built to give motorists in the north Georgia mountains better access to Atlanta and its outlying suburbs, as opposed to the old State Route 5 and U.S. 76 routes, which this project replaced. S.R. 515 is also known as the Zell Miller Mountain Parkway, in honor of the Young Harris native turned Georgia governor and U.S. senator. It is one of the Georgia Department of Transportation's GRIP corridors. The highway is known for its fantastic mountain views all along its route.

S.R. 515 is a section of the Appalachian Development Highway System's Corridor A.

[edit] Routing

As mentioned above, the route begins, literally at the border of Cherokee and Pickens Counties. It is cosigned with State Route 5 from Pickens County to Blue Ridge. It is also cosigned with U.S. 76 from Ellijay to between Young Harris and Hiawassee. It maintains a fairly strict north-south routing from its southern terminus to Blue Ridge and then becomes a due east-west route for the remainder of its length.

[edit] Significance

S.R. 515 is a significant route for the north Georgia mountains, funnelling tourist traffic and serving as a growth corridor. S.R. 515 sees an Average Annual Daily Traffic of more than 10,000 vehicles south of Blue Ridge, and at least 5,000 on the entirety of the route. [1]