Atlanta

Where traffic will change during Irma evacuations this weekend

By Doug Turnbull
By Doug Turnbull

ATLANTA — We are upon another natural event that is causing horrendous traffic. Have a look at the memo our WSB Traffic Team is going by this weekend. Hurricane Irma evacuation traffic is such that entire interstates are jammed for miles and one stretch is being reversed for 125 miles. Please be patient, courteous, and prepared as you travel this weekend. And be sure and fill up before you leave.

Weather in town will be great for us this weekend, but early next week will probably be bad. But just as we have most of this week, we will have extra evacuation traffic both from Florida and the Georgia coast. And with the weather nice and pretty, lots of locals will want to be out and about, making for even more company on the roads. 

Keep an eye on both the traffic flow and incidents on I-75 down to the FL line. There were several this morning. GDOT has suspended all weekend road work SOUTH of I-20 (until 7 p.m. Tuesday), but evacuation traffic has surged north and caused sizable extra delays above that line on I-285, the Downtown Connector, and I-75 in Cobb. Those areas could still see lane closures.

GDOT is contra-flowing I-16 from I-95 in Savannah thru Dublin. This means the eastbound lanes will be reversed to westbound-moving traffic. The process should start at 8 a.m. Saturday, but “flushing” this 125-mile stretch and sealing off the traffic could take a while. Once traffic arrives at Hwy. 26 (exit 38) in Laurens Co., officials will direct traffic to cross back over to the westbound side and the contra-flow will end.  Traffic moving west on the eastbound side can only exit here, per GDOT (so make sure and fill up): 

  • Exit 143 @ SR 30 / US 280 (Exit to Pembroke at Ellabell, Georgia)
  • Exit 116 @ SR 73 / SR 301 (Exit to Statesboro and Claxton at Metter, Georgia)
  • Exit 104 @ SR 23 / SR 121 (Exit to Metter and Reidsville at Metter, Georgia)
  • Exit 90 @ SR 4 / US 1 (Swainsboro, Georgia)
  • Exit 71 @ SR 15 / SR 78 (Exit to Soperton and Adrian at Soperton, Georgia)
  • Exit 67 @ SR 29 (Soperton, Georgia)
  • Exit 51 @ SR 31 / US 319 / US 441 (Dublin, Georgia)

There is an I-16 camera at Hwy. 441 (exit 51), where we should clearly be able to see when this gets going. 

Speaking of Dublin, Hwy. 441 is a great north-south alternate to all the mess on I-75 and the surrounding highways there. At this point, Hwy. 42, Hwy. 19/41, and Hwy. 155 are not saving people time. 

The South Metro Express Lanes on I-75 are reversed to the northbound side until further notice and are open to all vehicles (except tractor trailers) for free, even WITHOUT Peach Passes or Sun Passes. This gives two extra lanes through the median for traffic to move between Hwy. 155 (exit 216) and I-675 (exit 227). 

GDOT has more info on their emergency operations here: http://www.dot.ga.gov/AboutGeorgia/Pages/GDOTAnnouncementDetails.aspx?postID=359​ 

And we should try and encourage folks to be patient and courteous with these people that are fleeing destruction. We have seen lots of negative comments on Florida drivers on social media. 

Cox Media Group

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