Congestion Relief Ahead Along State Route 316 Between Lawrenceville and Athens (Atlanta: sales, 2015)

[Airforceguy]

Glad to see GA 316 will slowly but surely become an interstate-grade facility between next year and 2026...

Signalized intersections on Route 316 between Lawrenceville and Athens are on the way out, and grade-separated interchanges are on the way in, according to Georgia DOT commissioner Russell McMurry. Commissioner McMurry made the announcement at a Wednesday meeting of the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce. Ten grade separated interchanges along the route will be under construction starting in 2017 and continuing through 2026. An additional three interchanges are on the drawing board, but money for construction has not been allocated.
An interchange at State Route 81 south of Winder should start construction in 2017. In 2018, work begins on an interchange at Highway 53. 2020 begins the start of interchange construction at Highway 11 and at Patrick Mill Road. In 2022, work begins at the intersection of Winder Highway and 316 in Lawrenceville. In Athens, work begins on an interchange at the Oconee Connector in 2023. The interchange at Epps Bridge Road gets reworked in 2024. Work on an interchange at Harbins Road in Gwinnett also begins in 2024, and in 2026 construction starts at SR 211 / Bethlehem Road. Three additional interchanges, at Drowning Creek Road in Gwinnett, Barber Creek Road in Barrow County, and Jimmy Daniel Road in Oconee County are slated to begin construction after 2026.

McMurry said that all of this construction was made possible by the passage of the Transportation Funding Act in 2015. Even with all this work, the heavily used route will still have non signalized entrances and exits at smaller roads along the route, so it won’t be at true Interstate standards.

Commissioner McMurry told attendees at the chamber meeting that he was happy Governor Deal signed the Fiscal 2017 budget, which includes $825 million derived from the Transportation Funding Act. That funding was made possible by converting the state sales tax on gasoline to an excise tax, adding an additional registration fee for electric vehicles, and imposing a $5 per night fee on most hotel room rentals.

Congestion Relief Ahead Along State Route 316 Between Lawrenceville and Athens - GeorgiaPol

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by Airforceguy

Glad to see GA 316 will slowly but surely become an interstate-grade facility between next year and 2026...

Congestion Relief Ahead Along State Route 316 Between Lawrenceville and Athens - GeorgiaPol

Slowly being upgraded to a Super-arterial highway

[primaltech]

Oddly enough, I don't see any plans here to do anything with Hi Hope Rd, which is where the first traffic light is.

Also, they will eventually need a ramp to go from I-85 south to 316 east.

[fourthwarden]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Slowly being upgraded to a Super-arterial highway

One day someone may take the Brain Train seriously. Until then, more roads!

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Slowly being upgraded to a Super-arterial highway

Actually, the real long-term plan is to grade-separate the entire corridor.

[JMatl]

Originally Posted by fourthwarden

One day someone may take the Brain Train seriously. Until then, more roads!

I'm a huge proponent of the Brain Train, and it should already be up and running in my opinion.

That being said, this upgrade to 316 should have happened years ago for safety reasons alone.

[primaltech]

When the corridor is fully grade-separated, Barrow County (Winder area) is really going to boom like crazy. Because, it's like a suburb of Athens (which it will have faster access to), but it's also like an outer suburb of Atlanta, which it will have faster access to.

Athens will benefit immensely from this master project, as well. Will be more of a metro in its own right.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by primaltech

When the corridor is fully grade-separated, Barrow County (Winder area) is really going to boom like crazy. Because, it's like a suburb of Athens (which it will have faster access to), but it's also like an outer suburb of Atlanta, which it will have faster access to.

Athens will benefit immensely from this master project, as well. Will be more of a metro in its own right.

Will the 2 metro's combine?

[primaltech]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Will the 2 metro's combine?

Hmm, you could almost call it a mega-region. Especially if Athens grows larger, into more than just a small city completely dependent on a university. Athens is too far away from Atlanta to be a suburb of Atlanta.

Limited access highways do make all the difference. Like, if in addition to 316, Athens also ever had a limited access highway connected it north to I-85, south to I-20, or both. Then it would be like a hub city. That's how Atlanta grew.

Like, Macon would grow up like crazy if there was a direct limited access interstate from Montgomery > Columbus > Macon > Augusta. And Augusta would grow if there was a Savannah > Augusta interstate.

[jsvh]

Athens is part of the Atlanta CSA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanta_metropolitan_area