ATLANTA -- Elizabeth Bailey still isn't quite ready to declare the Jimmy Carter diverging diamond a four carat gem.
"I would say a B, maybe a B-plus," she told 11Alive Commuter Dude Jerry Carnes.
It's a much better grade than the one she gave the area back in June. "It seems like it's going much smoother, perhaps the timing of the lights are better now," she said.
That's the key. The diverging diamond interchange over I-85 opened in March with the promise of better traffic flow. Instead, it turned Elizabeth Bailey's trip to work into a 15-minute wait on the interstate ramp to Jimmy Carter. She reached out to 11Alive, because she was worried traffic would get even worse when students returned to school.
We reached out to the Gwinnett Village Community Improvement District, and the group told us the DOT would adjust the timing of the lights here.
"It's going smooth now," she said.
It has helped, and Elizabeth Bailey says the long delays have virtually disappeared. Crews still have a little work to do. That includes painting crosswalks and firing up the pedestrian signals. Once it's all complete, the state DOT will work on the traffic lights along every mile of Jimmy Carter.
"We're going to see the entire corridor re-timed, and we're going to see improvement along the entire Jimmy Carter Boulevard corridor," Chuck Warbington with the Gwinnett County CID said.
So the final grade isn't in yet. On a road that draws as much traffic as Jimmy Carter Boulevard, Elizabeth Bailey considers a B+ to be pretty good.
