Interstate 85 in Georgia

Interstate 85
Route information
Maintained by Georgia DOT
Length: 179.90 mi[1] (289.52 km)
Major junctions
South end: I-85 at the Alabama state line
  I-185 near LaGrange
I-285 in College Park
I-75 in Atlanta
I-20 in Atlanta
I-75 in Atlanta
SR 400 in Atlanta
I-285 near Doraville
SR 316 near Lawrenceville
I-985 in Suwanee
North end: I-85 at the South Carolina state line
Location
Counties: Harris, Troup, Meriwether, Coweta, Fulton, Clayton, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Barrow, Jackson, Banks, Franklin, Hart
Highway system

Main route of the Interstate Highway System
Main • Auxiliary • Business

Georgia State Routes
Former SR

← SR 402 SR 404 →

In the U.S. state of Georgia, the major Interstate Highway, Interstate 85, runs northeast-southwest from the Alabama border near West Point, and Lanett, Ala., running through Metropolitan Atlanta, and traveling to the border with South Carolina, where it crosses the Savannah River near Lake Hartwell. I-85 connects northern Georgia with Montgomery, Alabama to the southwest, and with South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia to the northeast. Within Georgia, Interstate 85 is also designated as the unsigned State Route 403.

Interstate 85 in Georgia usually runs roughly parallel with the route of U.S. Highway 29. However, from Atlanta northeast to South Carolina, I-85 ventures away from that route, running about half-way between U.S. 29 and the combination of U.S. Highway 23 and U.S. Highway 123.

Within the City of Atlanta, Interstate 85 has a concurrency with Interstate 75 known as the "Downtown Connector".

Contents

Route description

Alabama state line to Interstate 185

Interstate 85 enters Georgia from Alabama via twin bridges over the Chattahoochee River, and then it immediately skirts the town of West Point, with the Kia's multi-billion dollar plant just east West Point. After leaving West Point, I-85 enters the LaGrange area, the first large town in Georgia on its route to the northeast. Northeast of LaGrange, I-85 has an interchange with the long spur freeway, Interstate 185, to the Columbus, Georgia Metropolitan Area. This is the only connection between Columbus and the Interstate Highway System.

From Interstate 185 through Atlanta

From LaGrange, I-85 heads northeastward towards Atlanta. Before reaching Atlanta, the highway drives through a recently widened stretch between exits 28 and 74, passing near the suburbs of Moreland, Newnan, College Park and East Point as well as intersecting Interstate 285 at its southwest end and providing access to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. I-85 then runs along the northwestern boundary of the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. (This airport is bounded on all sides by I-85, I-75, and I-285, all of which provide highway access to the airport.)

At the southwestern edge of Atlanta's city limits, I-85 merges with Interstate 75 to form the Downtown Connector, which is 12 to 14 lanes wide. At the southern edge of downtown Atlanta, this freeway has an interchange with the major east-west Interstate Highway, Interstate 20. The two freeways then skirt the eastern edge of downtown, running due north, passing through the Georgia Tech campus and Atlantic Station before the two highways split, with I-75 exits via the right three lanes and then heads northwest while I-85 uses the left three lanes and then heads northeast.

Atlanta to South Carolina state line

Heading northbound after the Brookwood Interchange with I-75, I-85 is routed along a ten lane wide viaduct from the Buford Highway Connector (Exit 86) to Georgia 400 (Exit 87). Continuing northeast of Atlanta, Interstate 85 continues through the northeastern suburbs, bypassing Chamblee and Doraville, where there is another intersection with I-285 (nicknamed Spaghetti Junction). The interstate then travels through the northeastern suburbs of Atlanta, including Lilburn, Duluth, Lawrenceville. The interstate has freeway interchanges with Georgia 316 in Norcross and Interstate 985 in Suwanee, which provides a link to Gainesville. Interstate 85 then leaves the Atlanta area, continuing to travel through rural northeast Georgia. At Lake Hartwell - which was formed by the damming of the Savannah River - I-85 crosses into South Carolina.

Express Lanes

Interstate 85 has the the first and only express/HOT lanes in Georgia, located in Fulton and Dekalb counties; they were originally HOV lanes. From Chamblee-Tucker Road (exit 94) to Old Peachtree Road (exit 109); travelers that utilize the converted 15.5-mile (24.9 km) lanes will be charged a varying toll (from 10-90 cents per mile), depending on traffic conditions and usage. Though not signed on the freeway, they are HOT lanes, which means travelers with three or more occupants, vanpools, motorcycles, and buses are exempt from toll charges. Tolls are collected using an electronic toll collection system. All travelers that use the lane must have a Peach Pass sticker to avoid fines.[2][3]

Funds generated from the express lanes will be used to defray the costs of construction, operations and maintenance of the lanes. Long term revenue allocation is being studied and a decision about future excess revenues will be made later in the project process.[4]

Proponents for the for the express lanes say it is to provide commuters with a more reliable, free-flow commute option; complement the state’s multi-modal approach to managing traffic demand; and establish the vision for a future system of HOT lanes in the region.[2] Detractors point out that existing infrastructure was reused for the express lanes and that commute times on the non-paying travel lanes have doubled since implementation.[5][6]

Auxiliary routes

History

Originally constructed as a four to six lane expressway in the 1950s, the stretch of I-85 between the southern merge with I-75 and North Druid Hills Road was reconstructed as part of the Georgia Department of Transportation's Freeing the Freeways program. This project included rebuilding all overpasses, new HOV-ready ramps (with the system implemented in 1996), and a widening of freeway capacity. Concurrent with this project was the construction of the Civic Center MARTA Station as part of the West Peachtree Street overpass, which opened in December 1981.

The portion of the highway from the Buford Highway Connector to GA 400 was constructed during the early 1980s, and was designed as a replacement for the original four-lane routing of I-85 (now GA 13). In addition, the new viaduct was designed to accommodate connections to the Georgia 400 tollway (then in planning), HOV lanes, and a bridge carrying the MARTA North Line (then under construction).[7]

Until 2000, the state of Georgia used the sequential interchange numbering system on all of its Interstate Highways. The first exit on each highway would begin with the number "1" and increase numerically with each exit. In 2000, the Georgia Department of Transportation switched to a mileage-based exit system, in which the exit number corresponded to the nearest milepost.[8][9]

On October 1, 2011, GDOT converted the 15.5-mile (24.9 km) HOV lanes in Northern Atlanta into express/HOT lanes.[2]

Exit list

Exits are numbered from south to north, in accordance with AASHTO guidelines.

County Location # Destinations Notes
Old New
Harris
 No major junctions
Troup West Point 1 2 SR 18 – West Point, Pine Mountain
6 KIA Blvd To KIA Car Plant
2 13 SR 219 – LaGrange
LaGrange 3 14 US 27 / SR 1 – LaGrange GA 1 is unsigned with US 27
4 18 SR 109 – Greenville, Warm Springs
5 21 I-185 south – Columbus To Fort Benning
6 28 SR 54 / SR 100 – Hogansville
Coweta Grantville 7 35 US 29 / SR 14 – Grantville, Moreland GA 14 is unsigned with US 29
Newnan 8 41
US 27 Alt. / US 29 / SR 14 – Newnan		 To SR 16
Poplar Road Exit scheduled for completion in 2013.
To SR 16 / SR 34 / SR 154
To future Piedmont Newnan Hospital.
9 47 SR 34 – Newnan, Peachtree City To Business District
10 51 SR 154 (McCollum-Sharpsburg Road)
11 56 Collinsworth Road, Palmetto, Tyrone
Fulton Fairburn 12 61 SR 74 – Fairburn
Union City 13 64 SR 138 – Union City, Jonesboro
14 66 Flat Shoals Road
15 68 I-285 - Atlanta Bypass, Chattanooga, Tampa, Macon, Augusta, Birmingham Split into I-285 north (Birmingham, Chattanooga) and I-285 East (Macon, Tampa)
16A 69A SR 14 Spur (South Fulton Parkway)
College Park 16B 69B SR 279 (Old National Highway)
17 70 I-285 - Macon/Augusta, Birmingham/Chattanooga Southbound exit and northbound entrance
Clayton 18 71 SR 139 (Riverdale Road) - Atl Airport
Fulton College Park 18A 72 SR 6 (Camp Creek Parkway) - NB:Air Cargo SB: Atl Airport GA 6 is unsigned.-
East Point 19 73 Virginia Avenue Split into 73A (east) and 73B (west) northbound.
20 74 Loop Road Southbound exit and northbound entrance.
Hapeville 21 75 Sylvan Road, Central Avenue, Hapeville
Atlanta 22 76 Cleveland Avenue To Atlanta Technical College
23 77 US 19 / US 41 / SR 3 (Metropolitan Parkway) Southbound exit and northbound entrance.
GA 3 is secretly signed.
24 77 SR 166 (Langford Parkway) northbound exit and southbound entrance
See Downtown Connector for the Interstate 75 concurrency.
26 84 17th Street, 14th Street, 10th Street Southbound exit only, to Georgia Tech
27 85 I-75 north – Marietta, Chattanooga
28 86 SR 13 north (Buford Highway) Northbound exit and southbound entrance
Lindbergh Drive HOV-only ramps; southbound exit and northbound entrance.
29 87 SR 400 north – Buckhead, Cumming Northbound exit and southbound entrance.
28 86 SR 13 south (Peachtree Street) Southbound exit and northbound entrance
30 88 Cheshire Bridge Road, Lenox Road, To SR 400 Southbound exit and northbound entrance,
Dekalb 31 89 SR 42 (North Druid Hills road) To Oglethorpe University
32 91 US 23 / SR 155 (Clairmont Road), Decatur To DeKalb-Peachtree Airport and Emory University
33 93 Shallowford Road, Doraville To Briarcliff Road
34 94 Chamblee-Tucker Road, Mercer University
35 95 I-285 – Augusta, Macon, Chattanooga, Birmingham Southbound: Split into exits 95A (I-285 east — Macon, Augusta) and 95B (I-285 west — Chattanooga, Birmingham) southbound.
36 96 Northcrest Road, Pleasantdale Road
Gwinnett Norcross 37 99 SR 140 west (Jimmy Carter Boulevard)
38 101 Indian Trail-Lilburn Road
39 102 SR 378 (Beaver Ruin Road) – Lilburn
39A 103 Steve Reynolds Boulevard Northbound exit and southbound entrance.
40 104 Pleasant Hill Road Gwinnett Place Mall
42 105 SR 120 – Duluth, Lawrenceville Northbound exit only
41 106 SR 316 east – Lawrenceville, Athens No southbound exit. Additional ramps for direct HOV lane access: northbound exit and southbound entrance.
42 107 SR 120 to SR 316 – Duluth, Lawrenceville Southbound exit only
108 Sugarloaf Parkway Southbound exit is combined with exit 109
43 109 Old Peachtree Road
44 111 SR 317 north – Suwanee
45 113 I-985 north – Gainesville Northbound exit and southbound entrance, to Buford Dam and Lake Lanier Islands
46 115 SR 20 – Lawrenceville, Buford Mall of Georgia
47 120 Hamilton Mill Road, Hamilton Mill Parkway
Barrow 48 126 SR 211 – Chestnut Mountain, Winder
Jackson Braselton 49 129 SR 53 – Braselton, Hoschton, Winder
Jefferson 50 137 US 129 / SR 11 – Gainesville, Jefferson
51 140 SR 82 (Dry Pond Road, Holly Springs Road)
Commerce 52 147 SR 98 – Commerce, Maysville
Banks 53 149 US 441 – Commerce, Homer, Banks Crossing
54 154 SR 63 (Martin Bridge Road) – Toccoa
Franklin 55 160 SR 51 – Homer, Franklin Springs, Royston, Elberton
56 164 SR 320 – Carnesville
57 166 SR 106 / SR 145 – Carnesville, Toccoa
Lavonia 58 173 SR 17 – Lavonia, Toccoa
Hart 59 177 SR 77 – Elberton, Hartwell
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
     Concurrency terminus •      Closed/Former •      Incomplete access •      Unopened

See also

References

  1. ^ "Route Log and Finder List — Interstate System: Table 1". FHWA. http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/reports/routefinder/table1.cfm. Retrieved 2007-09-26. 
  2. ^ a b c "I-85 Express Lanes". http://www.dot.state.ga.us/travelingingeorgia/expresslanes/I85expresslanes/Pages/default.aspx. Retrieved 2011-11-19. 
  3. ^ "100,000th Peach Pass issued for controversial HOT lanes". http://www.ajc.com/news/100-000th-peach-pass-1216495.html. Retrieved 2011-11-19. 
  4. ^ "I-85 Express Lanes - FAQ". http://www.dot.state.ga.us/travelingingeorgia/expresslanes/I85expresslanes/Pages/FAQs.aspx. Retrieved 2011-11-19. 
  5. ^ "The Marietta Daily Journal - Don McKee: Commuters getting hot about HOT lanes in metro Atlanta". http://mdjonline.com/view/full_story/16231016/article-Don-McKee--Commuters-getting-hot-about-HOT-lanes-in-metro-Atlanta?instance=secondary_story_left_column. Retrieved 2011-11-19. 
  6. ^ "HOT lane unhappiness: Some drivers say congestion worse". http://www.ajc.com/news/hot-lane-unhappiness-some-1208710.html. Retrieved 2011-11-19. 
  7. ^ State Route 13 Page Peach State Roads. Retrieved 27 May 2007.
  8. ^ Georgia's Interstate Exit Numbers Georgia Department of Transportation - online. Accessed April 30, 2007.
  9. ^ Interstate 20 Exit Renumbering Page Georgia Department of Transportation - online. Accessed April 30, 2007.
Interstate 85
Previous state:
Alabama		 Georgia Next state:
South Carolina
Major Roads in Metro Atlanta
Interstates and Freeways
Major Throughfares
Unbuilt Expressways
Current
Cancelled