Tom Moreland Interchange
| Tom Moreland Interchange | |
|---|---|
| Spaghetti Junction | |
|
Tom Moreland Interchange from I-85 traveling southbound | |
| Location | |
| Atlanta, Georgia | |
| Coordinates: | 33°53′30″N 84°15′33″W / 33.891744°N 84.259164°WCoordinates: 33°53′30″N 84°15′33″W / 33.891744°N 84.259164°W |
| Roads at junction: |
 I‑85 I‑285  US 23 / SR 13 Buford Highway |
| Construction | |
| Maintained by: | Georgia Department of Transportation |
| Map | |
 | |
Tom Moreland Interchange, colloquially known as Spaghetti Junction, is the intersection of 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 (1975–1987).
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]
Type of interchange
The interchange is a stack interchange. Because of a northeast-to-southwest ramp that passes over the fourth level of the interchange, Spaghetti Junction is a five-level stack interchange, not a traditional four-level stack. It contains additional ramps to accommodate traffic on four nearby side roads: Buford Highway/US 23, Chamblee-Tucker Road, Pleasantdale Road, Northcrest Road. The interchange currently handles approximately 300,000 vehicles each day. It has 14 bridges, the highest rising 90 feet (27 m), running from Northcrest Road to I-85 South. The newer interchange replaced an older cloverleaf interchange dating back to 1958 and was constructed between 1983 and 1987 as part of the Freeing the Freeways program to relieve congestion on Atlanta-area interstates.[2]
Origin of nickname
The interchange's nickname comes from that of Gravelly Hill Junction in Birmingham, UK, which had opened fifteen years previously and been given the nickname "Spaghetti Junction" by locals.
In popular culture
The interchange's colloquial name of "Spaghetti Junction" is immortalized in an eponymous song by the Atlanta-based hip-hop group Outkast in their 2000 album Stankonia.
References
- ↑ "Tom Moreland Interchange" (PDF).
- ↑ "Interstate 285". kurumi.com.