Politics & Government

Citizens Learn About Proposed Interchange at I-85 and Jimmy Carter

The design would use mostly existing roads and bridges to move traffic to the "opposite" side of the road.

Citizens and Gwinnett County and local officials gathered on Tuesday night to discuss a $3 to $4 million “Diverging Diamond Interchange” project at Jimmy Carter Blvd and I-85.

The project, funded by county SPLOST dollars and the Gwinnett Village CID, is slated for construction in 2012. The plans are currently being reviewed by the county, and will then go to the Georgia DOT for final approval. It uses the existing bridge without much new construction, a short-term fix smiled upon by the DOTs.

Diverging Diamonds, relatively new concepts in the United States, direct traffic to the “opposite” side of the street for a brief period to eliminate the need for a hard left turn—and hopefully ease traffic bottlenecks that cause long delays.

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Business owners and residents gathered around large boards that detailed the project, quizzing engineers about the particulars. Dominic Perello, who has lived off Jimmy Carter Blvd for 23 years, expressed his surprise at the simplicity and ingenuity of the design. “All be darned,” he said, after learning how the interchanges work. He said he found the design “lovely”—even though it might take him some time to get used to it. 

“I cussed the median when it came in,” he said. “But it made all the difference. I see less banged up vehicles.”

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Construction would take an estimated three to four months, with just one weekend of complete interchange closure. The planned detour would take drivers to the Indian Trail onramp via Brook Hollow Pkwy and also to Pleasantdale Rd.

Gwinnett DOT distributed materials about the project, stating that the .54 miles of widening, median construction, signage, pavement marking and signals would also include the widening of Goshen Springs Rd to create a right turn land at Jimmy Carter Blvd, per an earlier recommendation.

Right of way would need to be acquired in four spots to extend the blacktop, including from the Gwinnett County Police Westside Precinct, which is located on the southwest corner of the intersection.

Currently, 55,000 to 60,000 cars pass through the intersection each day, according to engineer Mike Rushing from Kimley-Horn & Associates, who is working on the project. That’s a little less than the existing DDI intersection that officials visited in Springfield, MO.

Rushing said that during that visit, they did see one driver confused, trying to stay on the right side of the road instead of following the flow over to the left.

But the design is set up to “swing” out a little to the right before crossing over so that the flow to the “opposite” side feels natural to drivers. Traffic lights would also have arrows pointing straight and signage would be set up well before the intersection to alert drivers.

In addition to eliminating the need for a hard left when turning from Jimmy Carter on to the highway, engineers say there are some secondary benefits. First, cars exiting the highway wouldn’t be stopped by taking a left, eliminating some backup on I-85 during rush hour. Second, when cars try to take a left onto the highway during high traffic hours, they wouldn’t get “trapped” in the intersection, stopping up both lanes of traffic.

Gwinnett DOT asks that public comments about the project be directed to Amanda Reed, Assistant to the Community Relations Director before March 16. She is located at the Gwinnett County Department of Transportation, 75 Langley Drive, Lawrenceville, GA 30046.


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