A normally busy section of I-285 is closed for weekend roadwork, detouring metro Atlanta motorists and leaving a westside stretch of the Perimeter eerily empty Saturday.
The closure will continue through 5 a.m. Monday, the Georgia Department of Transportation previously announced.
After a fairly free-flowing Saturday morning, traffic congestion had begun to build by noon. GDOT traffic maps showed sections of red-marked hang-ups along the detour route, which includes I-75/I-85 and I-20. Motorists were also moving slowly in some parts of the West End and Cascade Heights neighborhoods, according to the map.
Cameras in the closed I-285 area, including one at Cascade Road, showed an interstate dotted with orange construction barrels and free of traffic. Another camera, near Benjamin E. Mays Drive, showed big work trucks rolling through and crews on site.
A GDOT spokesperson did not immediately respond Saturday to a request for comment on the progress.
Credit: GDOT
Credit: GDOT
Officials closed a busy westside section of I-285 to accommodate crews working on a reconstruction project to rebuild one of the nation’s most choked traffic bottlenecks.
GDOT had aimed to shut down the interstate over Mother’s Day weekend, but a rainy forecast prompted officials to pause for one week until sunshine beckoned.
GDOT said in a statement the closure “will have significant impacts on travel throughout the metro area.”
All north and southbound lanes of I-285 are closed between Exit 9 at Martin Luther King Jr. Drive to Exit 7 at Cascade Road.
Northbound drivers are being routed to Langford Parkway to take I-75/I-85 up to I-20 and then back over to I-285, and southbound motorists will take the same detour in the other direction.
Drivers should avoid the area if possible. If you must proceed, “allow substantial extra travel time” and check traffic congestion before heading out, GDOT said.
Area businesses are preparing for the disruption. Tenants at Greenbriar Mall, just east of I-285, “are aware of the delays that could possibly affect the traffic” and are concerned, a mall spokesperson said in an email.
This time around, the weather shouldn’t throw up such a big speed bump. The forecast calls for mostly sunny skies Saturday. There’s a chance for rain Sunday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service, but showers “will be only isolated to scattered at best.”
Though the weekend closure is timed to avoid the thick of weekday work and school commuting traffic, there will still be plenty of motorists trying to get around metro Atlanta.
North of the blocked interstate at Truist Park, the Braves play the Red Sox at 7:15 p.m. Saturday and at 1:35 p.m. Sunday.
The VaHi Porchfest, when music lovers take over the front yards of homes in Atlanta’s Virginia-Highland neighborhood, is Saturday.
Several Atlanta schools also are holding commencement ceremonies. Morehouse School of Medicine and Morris Brown College hold their events Saturday. Morehouse and Spelman colleges have ceremonies scheduled Sunday.
Spelman is advising graduates and their families to “arrive earlier than usual” for the college’s afternoon commencement at the Georgia International Convention Center in College Park.
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