DeKalb Co. gets ramp meters on I-85
July 2, 2008 at 4:35 pm by Thomas Wheatley in NewsFrom the DOT:
The Georgia Department of Transportation has installed 11 new meters on I-85 entrance ramps between North Druid Hills Road (Exit 89) and Pleasant Hill Road (Exit 104). The meters will begin operating during afternoon rush hour on Monday, July 7. The entire corridor should be operational by Friday, July 11. Fifteen additional corridors with 140 ramp meters will be phased in within the next year.
Ramp meters are turned on before rush hour, and operate at different times of day depending on traffic patterns. Every 3-5 seconds, a cycle from red to green allows one vehicle at a time to merge onto the freeway. On two-lane ramps, the left and right lanes have alternating lights, so the left lane goes while the right is stopped, and vice versa.
“Although motorists will spend a little extra time on the ramp, they should see a decrease in overall travel time,” Georgia DOT Operations Director Steve Henry said. “We’ll monitor these new ramp meters very carefully. If traffic starts to back up on the ramp, sensors will speed up the meters to allow more vehicles to move through. If our cameras show traffic spilling out onto the surface streets, we can turn them off completely.”
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The ramps that will be operational during the week of July 7 are:
North Druid Hills Road (northbound and southbound)
Chamblee-Tucker Road (northbound only)
Jimmy Carter Boulevard (northbound and southbound)
Indian Trail Road (northbound and southbound)
Beaver Ruin Road (northbound and southbound)
Steve Reynolds Boulevard (southbound only)
Pleasant Hill Road (southbound only)
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