The $834 million Northwest Corridor Express Lanes that are set to open soon (and with an access point on Roswell Road, near the Big Chicken, as seen above), are part of the initial phase of the colossal I-285 Express Lanes project to address congestion on Atlanta’s suburban northside.

The Georgia Department of Transportation has been holding information sessions with local government bodies about its Major Mobility Investment Program, a total of 11 projects that are expected to be completed over the next decade or so.

On Tuesday, Cobb commissioners were briefed at a work session about the I-285 Express Lanes, which would range between I-85 in Gwinnett County and I-20 west of Atlanta.

The toll road projects, dubbed the I-285 Top End Express Lanes (fact sheet) and the I-285 Westside Express Lanes (fact sheet), would be fully complete by 2028, connecting to I-75 and I-575 in Cobb and Cherokee and the Northwest Corridor managed lanes.

The Top End project will cost an estimated $4.2 billion, with expected completion by 2028. That corridor currently handles around 240,000 vehicle trips a day.

The Westside project is expected to cost around $655 million, and is slated to open to traffic by 2026. Unlike the Northwest Corridor, which will have reversible lanes, the Westside project will have an express lane in each direction, inside existing general purpose lanes.

Tim Matthews, the MMIP project manager for Georgia DOT, told commissioners that three Cobb County access points are being proposed for Westside project. Two are at Mt. Wilkinson Parkway and Cumberland Parkway.

Another would be at 285 and Cumberland Boulevard. That access point was chosen over Akers Mill Road, both for cost and traffic demand reasons.

Matthews said the Cumberland Boulevard access point would cost an estimated $15 million, compared to a $110 million price tag for Akers Mill. Planned development in the Akers Mill area also was a hindrance for access point consideration.

The Cumberland Boulevard access point also would serve traffic projected by the year 2040 to be around 25,000 vehicles per day, compared to around 17,000 at Akers Mill.

Although that may not seem like a lot, Matthews said “that’s a significant difference.”

He said the proposed locations are not final, but represent a “baseline access map” that could be altered, since the project will be taken to the public and also because of land acquisition issues that could come up.

No proposed access points for the Top End Express Lanes were presented at the commission work session.

The next steps for Georgia DOT with both projects are to address environmental issues, which are underway and will take around three years, and to have public comment periods in 2019 and 2020. Right-of-way acquisition is expected take place in 2021-22, with construction starting in 2023.

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