Ga. 400 road project finishes early

ATLANTA — Commuters along Georgia 400 are hopeful a road project will ease congestion to and from work.
 
Nearly 120,000 workers commute to the Interstate 285 perimeter area daily to 5,000 business that have office space there, officials told Channel 2's Mike Petchenik.

Saturday, Georgia Department of Transportation crews finished work to widen the northbound ramp off Ga. 400 to Abernathy Road, which has added a lane for increased traffic.

"It gets backed up," said Ernestine Townes, who works for a payroll processing company off Peachtree Dunwoody Road in Sandy Springs.
 
"I'm hoping it'll relieve congestion," said Townes.  "Companies aren't interested in renting properties in this area due to the congestion, so hopefully once that clears up we'll get more tenants in these buildings."
 
The $2 million project was paid for with excess revenues from Ga. 400 tolls. 
 
"We are the corporate center of the southeast United States and transportation matters," said Yvonne Williams, president and CEO of the Perimeter Community Improvement District (CID).
 
Chuck Altimari is vice president of UPS, which has its corporate headquarters on Abernathy Road.  He's also chairman of the Perimeter CID.  He said improvements will go a long way.
 
"Together these projects continue to move the market forward for pedestrians, the businesses in the market, commuters and most importantly the residents of the marketplace," he said.
 
The project wasn't slated for completion until January, but officials said crews were able to wrap it up ahead of schedule.

WSBTV