ATLANTA – The Georgia Department of Transportation (DOT) is moving to expand a network of toll lanes in the Atlanta region that began a few years ago on interstates 75 and 85.
The State Transportation Board voted Thursday to work with the State Road and Tollway Authority (SRTA) to add toll lanes to the top half of I-285 and along Georgia 400 to the North Springs MARTA station.
As with the Northwest Corridor along I-75 north of 285 and a second stretch of I-75 just south of Atlanta, the Georgia Department of Transportation will work in partnership with the private sector on the 285 toll-lane projects. The DOT will coordinate the work, while a private developer will design, construct, operate, and maintain the new lanes, Helen Pinkston-Pope, senior counsel to the DOT, said Thursday.
“We really see the benefits in bringing in the developer early on,” she said.
I-285 perennially ranks among the most congested stretches of highway in the nation, said Tim Matthews, program manager with the DOT division in charge of projects built through public-private partnerships. Atlanta’s “Perimeter Highway” sees 250,000 to 300,000 vehicles per day, he said.
As with the earlier toll-lane projects, SRTA will coordinate the financing and collect the revenue from the tolls.
Pinkston-Pope said the DOT will seek bids on the I-285 East Express Lanes project first, covering a stretch from Georgia 400 east and south to Interstate 20. Procurement for the I-285 West Express Lanes – from Georgia 400 west and south to I-20 – will follow, she said.
“The size of these projects is significant,” Matthews said. “We can’t build them with one contract.”
In a related matter, Matthews said the DOT has received two bids from contractors interested in adding toll lanes to Georgia 400 in Fulton and Forsyth counties. The agency will evaluate the bids and recommend a contractor for that project to the State Transportation Board in August, he said.