Progress, finally

I work just off of Georgia Route 316 just NE of Atlanta. It’s the primary highway that runs from Atlanta to Athens – a serious college party town – about 38 miles one way. Remember the B-52s heading down the Atlanta Highway, looking for a love get-away? GA-316. (And the love get-away was an old bar called The Cove, but that’s another story.) This road was woefully inadequate when it was completed 15 years ago, and it’s just been getting worse. Four lanes might handle the traffic that travels this road every day, but the stoplights every 3-5 miles only serve to bunch the cars together, which means you’ll never get a chance to pass anyone. And westbound, as you approach I-85, both lanes are funneled into a single lane, which then merges with I-85 from the left. Into the fast lanes. Yeah, Sparky. Great plan there.

I know some parts of this highway date back to the 1960s, but that I-85 merge debaucle was all 1990s action.

Well, GAyDOT has finally decided to do something about it, and they’re starting with the I-85 mess. 40 miles of new lanes in that interchange alone, plus a buttload of new bridges. And it’s only going to take a mere 40 months to complete. (If they were gonna play football on it, they would have already finished it.) But they started clearing trees this week to make way for the construction. At least they’re moving in the right direction this time.