ATLANTA — A billion-dollar road project will take root in a gridlock-riven highway interchange on Atlanta’s west side. The redesign is expected to ease congestion that’s been chronic for years at I-20 and I-285 from Adamsville to Bankhead and beyond.
David Carter is behind the wheel of one of the hundreds of trucks that materialize every work day on I-20 west of Atlanta.
"It’s horrible in the mornings. It’s backed up all the way to Douglasville most of the time," Carter said Wednesday during a stop at a QuikTrip store near Six Flags.
Carter has had to navigate a highway designed decades ago, which joins another outdated busy highway encircling the city, Interstate 285.
It’s a chronic logjam even when traffic is relatively light.
"Even at 5:30 in the morning it’s still crowded," Carter said.
To relieve this bit of gridlock, the Georgia Department of Transportation has approved a contract to rebuild the interchange of I-20 at I-285 – repositioning some exit ramps, creating feeder lanes and expanding the traffic capacity of the two highways.
"There is a good balance of both redesign of the interchange, and increased capacity to address a multitude of problems," said Natalie Dale, a spokeswoman for GDOT.
Dale said some of the redesign is specific to the needs of the tractor trailers. They clog the interchange even on good days, said Sharon Wright of Douglasville.
"We got 18-wheelers. That’s the worst thing about this traffic is the 18-wheelers. There’s a lot of them," Wright said.
Wright said she can’t ever get on the highway without checking her traffic app first. She’ll still need to do that when construction starts next year – and continues through 2030.