I-185 Extension from Columbus, GA to Tallahassee (Panama City, Destin: live in, cost)

[TheYoungProfessional]

There has been and interesting conversation going on in the Columbus, GA forum about proposing the idea of extending I-185 that's ends in Columbus/Ft.Benning to Tallahassee. The idea isn't new as Albany, GA city leaders pushed for this about 10 years ago but of course nothing came of it at that time. If this were to ever come to fruition, the idea would be to extend the interstate (which is currently just a spur connecting the Columbus metro area to Atlanta via I-85) through Albany and redesignate as a primary North-South route (I-81). I've heard in the past that Tallahassee citizens were in support of this idea giving the area North-South access and direct connectivity to Atlanta but I wanted to dial in directly and see what thoughts city data users may have about the idea it were to be re-proposed.

[JAS]

I'm no longer a Tallahassee resident, but I live in the Atlanta area and travel to TLH a few times per year. I also use 185 on the way to Panama City/Destin.

I don't believe that it would provide a significant benefit since you can already use lightly-traveled 19 or 27 to get from TLH to Columbus, and then to 185. An interstate highway would increase the speed limit, but probably not worth the millions in cost so I could knock off a few minutes between here and there. Maybe it would divert some of the truck traffic off 75, but not sure about that.

[SlurmsMcKenzie]

27 is largely open road anyways. Perhaps just extending 185 to south of Cusseta and improving the link between I10 and Bainbridge would do the trick.