This is one.Typical closure times are 9:00 a.m. Some roads вЂ“ and expedited improvements вЂ“ are more valuable than others. This PPP model has operated successfully internationally for decades.

On the stateвЂ™s watch, clogged drains caused flooding that has shut down the I-75/575 toll lanes several times in recent years. ItвЂ™s GDOTвЂ™s responsibility to educate motorists and craft a thoughtful, performance-based contract that preserves вЂњcustomerвЂќ service and protects taxpayers. Most important, the private sector will expedite mobility in metro Atlanta while reducing the burden on all GeorgiaвЂ™s taxpayers. ThereвЂ™s more promise in this PPP project for users. Furthermore, GDOT notes, this вЂњwill shift more financial burden from the State and will result in a reduction in public funding commitments for the projects over future decades.вЂќ GDOT cites вЂњthe opportunity for more innovative solutions to address congestion and mobility,вЂќ including the potential for more access points. Only the top end of I-285 would have two lanes in each direction, barrier-separated. Previously, the state could afford only one lane in each direction at the opposite ends of the project (much like the I-85 North toll lanes). Georgians can expect improved safety: two barrier-separated, dedicated lanes in each direction along the entire project. Transit vehicles will travel free, offering riders the enormous trip time savings demonstrated in other toll lane corridors. Overhead transponders will use the Peach Pass tolls will be market-based, changing with travel conditions to provide reliable trip times. The private contractor would recoup costs through a 50-year contract that gives it the ability to set and collect tolls on the new lanes вЂњwithin the contract criteria establishedвЂќ by the state. While the state is working toward a seamless toll network in the metro area, existing toll projects are operated by the state.

With lane expansion constrained, the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) turned to technology to relieve congestion: dynamic speed limit signs, overhead real-time traffic alerts, and the indispensable HERO units (Highway Emergency Response Operators) to clear wrecks and breakdowns.Д¬apitalizing on the success of existing toll projects, the GDOT has unveiled its most promising plan yet to improve mobility and increase capacity on I-285: a public-private partnership (PPP) allowing a private company to design, build and operate toll lanes on the northside, between I-20 East and I-20 West. Wrecks are commonplace as trucks, passenger vehicles and motorcycles mingle, and resulting delays affect both sides, in no small part because of вЂњrubberneckers.вЂќ

Congestion builds at the interchanges, among the nationвЂ™s 10 worst bottlenecks. I-285, on the other hand, is a continuous loop of heavy traffic in both directions. With traffic mostly inbound toward Atlanta weekday mornings and outbound in the afternoon, using the same lanes and switching travel direction helped cut construction costs while maximizing benefits. The answer, of course, is that Georgia, having opted to fund construction and operation of that project, sought to meet the greatest need at the lowest cost. One attendee wondered why the lanes were not bidirectional. Plans for an outer perimeter highway, which would have allowed more through traffic to bypass metro Atlanta, were scrapped around 2002.ДЄt a June meeting of the Dalton League of Women Voters, the conversation turned to the Northwest Corridor Express Lanes, 17 miles of toll lanes alongside I-75/575 north of Atlanta that reverse direction daily.

Texas freeway express lane shut down