Hallelujah! I-85/GA 400 Interchange Opens Wednesday

Relief for intown commuters in the Buckhead area has arrived.

What many feel should’ve been built in place decades ago, the new flyover ramps will open Wednesday that will provide I-85 southbound traffic with direct access to GA 400 northbound.

It also will give GA 400 southbound motorists a direct ramp to I-85 northbound, as the Georgia Department of Transportation expects between 5,000 and 6,000 drivers a day can now stay off nearby, clogged surface streets and use the $21 million ramps.

Governor Nathan Deal and other state and local leaders will conduct a brief ribbon-cutting celebration early Wednesday afternoon, and then the barrels will be moved and the long-needed flyover ramps should be operational by rush hour.

The interchange improvements will certainly lessen the stress on congested surface streets such as Cheshirebridge Road, Lenox Road, Sidney Marcus Boulevard and Buford Highway, which have been jammed with vehicles for the last two decades when GA 400 opened.

It's been an awful bottleneck for years as anyone knows who has ever attempted to maneuver through it.