Atlanta traffic more hellish than usual tonight and this weekend

Soccer, Braves game tonight; ‘beam work’ this weekend

of Chipper Jones will create traffic havoc tonight in Atlanta.

This weekend, the Georgia Department of Transportation will be setting beams for the new (yippie!) 17th Street off-ramp (boo!). That project will require the closure of several lanes on I-75/85 northbound. Here are the details:

Starting at 8 p.m., Friday, July 24, the three regular travel lanes to I-75 North will be closed through the weekend until 5 a.m., Monday, July 27. All northbound traffic on I-75 must use the HOV lane to continue north on I-75. The three lanes to I-85 North will be open, but traffic will be very congested. Northbound drivers just passing through Atlanta are strongly encouraged to use I-285 to avoid the congestion.

Emphasis added. The following weekend, GDOT will once again resurface the interstate near the downtown connector, turning it into a real-life version of “Everybody Hurts.” That process will take 10 weekends to complete. The good news is that all of this activities, which are part of the 14th Street Bridge improvement project, will help GDOT finish the project ahead of schedule.

Do yourself a favor, if possible: Avoid interstate traffic this weekend and quite possibly for the rest of your life. Take local roads or I-285. Better yet, give transit a try. From the comforts of MARTA, you can laugh at the sea of gridlocked motorists. Citizens for Progressive Transit has a helpful online trip planner. You can also access a mobile version.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)