Interstate 85 in Georgia
Interstate 85 is a major Interstate Highway that travels northeast-to-southwest in the U.S. state of Georgia. It enters the state at the Alabama state line near West Point, and Lanett, Alabama, traveling through the Atlanta metropolitan area and to the South Carolina state line, 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, I-85 is also designated as the unsigned State Route 403.
I-85 in Georgia usually travels roughly parallel with the route of U.S. Route 29. However, from Atlanta northeast to South Carolina, I-85 ventures away from that route, traveling about halfway between US 29 and the combination of US 23 and US 123.
Within the City of Atlanta, I-85 has a concurrency with I-75 known as the "Downtown Connector". After splitting from Downtown Connector, it is known as Northeast Expressway until its junction with I-285.
Route description
Alabama state line to Interstate 185
I-85 enters the state of Georgia from Alabama via twin bridges over the Chattahoochee River, and then it immediately skirts the town of West Point, with Kia's multibillion-dollar plant located adjacent to the freeway just east of 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, I-185, to the Columbus, Georgia Metropolitan Area. This is the only connection between Columbus and the Interstate Highway System.An 18-mile stretch between the Alabama line and exit 18 in LaGrange is serving as an environmental and technological testbed for a project called . It's a partnership involving federal and state officials, the private sector, academia and philanthropic organizations. Among the projects are a solar-paved roadway, enhanced road striping for autonomous vehicles and plantings along the right-of-way to improve runoff and possibly serve as a harvestable crop.
From Interstate 185 through Atlanta
From LaGrange, I-85 heads northeastward towards Atlanta. Before reaching Atlanta, the highway passes through the suburbs of Moreland, Newnan, Fairburn, and Union City. The highway then intersects I-285 at its southwest end in College Park. This interchange is one of the most complex interchanges in the country, meanwhile providing access to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. I-85 then runs along the northwestern boundary of the airport in East Point, providing access to the domestic terminal. I-75 services the International Terminals of the airport, which are located on the east side of the airport.At the southwestern edge of Atlanta's city limits, I-85 merges with I-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, I-20. The two freeways then skirt the eastern edge of downtown, running due north, passing through the Georgia Tech campus and the Atlantic Station section of Atlanta 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 to State Route 400. Continuing northeast of Atlanta, I-85 continues through the northeastern suburbs, bypassing Chamblee and Doraville, where there is another intersection with I-285. The Interstate then travels through the northeastern suburbs of Atlanta, including Lilburn, Duluth, Lawrenceville, Buford. The Interstate has freeway interchanges with SR 316 in Duluth and I-985 in Suwanee, which provides a link to Gainesville. I-85 eventually leaves the Atlanta metro area as the highway continues into the rural parts of northeast Georgia. At Lake Hartwell, which was formed by the damming of the Savannah River, I-85 crosses the Savannah River into South Carolina.National Highway System
The entire length of I-85 in Georgia is part of the National Highway System, a system of routes determined to be the most important for the nation's economy, mobility, and defense.Express lanes
I-85 has the first express lanes in Georgia, located in Gwinnett and DeKalb counties; they were originally HOV lanes. From Chamblee–Tucker Road to Old Peachtree Road, travelers that utilize the converted lanes will be charged a toll varying from, depending on traffic conditions and usage. Though not signed on the freeway, they are HOT lanes, which means registered transport vehicles, carpools with three or more occupants, motorcycles, and buses are exempt from toll charges as long as they are registered as such. Tolls are collected using an electronic toll collection system. All travelers that use the lane must have a Peach Pass sticker to avoid fines. Starting in November 2014, SunPass and NC Quick Pass are inter-operable with Peach Pass, allowing motorists with those transponders to use the express lanes.On November 3, 2018, an extension to the express lanes opened, from its former ending at Old Peachtree Rd to Hamilton Mill Rd. After this extension, four more northbound exit points were added: at SR 317, I-985, SR 20, and at its end at Hamilton Mill Rd. In addition, four new access points were added to the southbound express lanes: at SR 20, SR 317, Old Peachtree Rd, and at the connection to the pre-existing express lanes. The project costed $178 million. The express lanes extension will incur a separate charge from the existing express lanes. This is to decrease the impact of high congestion on the existing express lanes on the dynamic pricing of the express lanes extension, since lower congestion is expected on the new extension of the express lanes.
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.
Proponents 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. 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.
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, 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 section between LaGrange and Newnan was incomplete for a much-longer time that the rest of I-85 in Georgia and required a two-lane detour on Hwy 27 & Hwy 29 between those cities. The northern section between Newnan and Grantville was completed first, then the stretch further south to LaGrange was completed in 1977.
The portion of the highway from the Buford Highway Connector to SR 400 was constructed during the early 1980s, and was designed as a replacement for the original four-lane routing of I-85. In addition, the new viaduct was designed to accommodate connections to the SR 400 tollway, HOV lanes, and a bridge carrying the MARTA North Line.
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.
On October 1, 2011, GDOT converted the HOV lanes in Northern Atlanta into express/HOT lanes.
From Atlanta, I-85 north was originally slated to be built through the city of Athens to provide an easy link between the capital city and the University of Georgia. However, then-Gov. Ernest Vandiver worked to make sure the highway traversed his home county of Franklin, a stretch that now bears his name. At the time, he promised equivalent access for Athens and Gainesville. It was not until the completion of SR 316 in the 1990s that there was finally a relatively quick, multi-lane expressway connecting Athens and Atlanta, although SR 316 still is largely at-grade.
On March 30, 2017, a fire started at approximately 6:15 p.m. in a storage area under the highway along Piedmont Road in the Piedmont Heights area of Midtown Atlanta. This caused the collapse of a section of I-85 northbound. The highway in both directions needed to be demolished and replaced. According to the Georgia Department of Transportation, the work was completed ahead of schedule. Both the north and south bound portions of the interstate were open by May 15, 2017, a month ahead of expectations.