SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. — More than a decade after saying goodbye to tolls on Georgia 400, the Georgia Department of Transportation wants to hear from drivers about a plan to bring tolled express lanes to the area.
GDOT will hold a series of public meetings in July. Drivers can weigh in now on the department’s website.
The plan is to add tolled express lanes to the top end of I-285 and a portion of Georgia 400 from the perimeter to McFarland Parkway. There will be no toll booths like the ones that existed on 400 until 2013. These will be separate lanes that drivers will decide whether or not to use.
Lauryn Fennell works near a section of I-285 where GDOT plans to add tolled Express Lanes. She moved here from an area of Florida where there are toll lanes everywhere.
“When I first started driving, I racked up like $800,” said Fennell. “I guess maybe I’m traumatized, so I guess I would avoid it.”
GDOT has already heard from drivers and is moving forward with plans to add toll lanes to an 18-mile section of Georgia 400 from the North Springs MARTA station to McFarland. The department hopes to have a contractor hired in the fall, and work will get underway next year. GDOT is now hearing from the public about adding Express Lanes to the top end of I-285 and Georgia 400 from the perimeter to North Springs MARTA.
The tolled lanes will run beside the highway just like they do now along I-75. While the I-75 express lanes move in one direction in the morning and the other in the afternoon, that’s not the way it will be along I-285 and 400.
“There will be express lanes in each direction,” said GDOT’s Natalie Dale. “The congestion in the corridor calls for lanes moving in both directions at the same time.”
There’s another twist.
“We’re working with MARTA to have the first express lane transit system as a part of this project, so that is something we’re working through,” Dale added.
Drivers can comment on the GDOT website until July 29. There are four public meetings scheduled for July in Doraville, Smyrna, Dunwoody, and Sandy Springs.