ATLANTA — Starting at 7 p.m., a two-mile stretch of Interstate 285 will close on the west side of the city and won’t open back up until 5 a.m. on Monday.
While there will be detours, people who live near the area where the interstate is shutting down are worried about the traffic on surrounding roads as well, people like Jerri Harper.
“I can’t stay home. I go to church,” Harper told Channel 2’s Berndt Petersen.
She is not discouraged by the arrival of heavy highway equipment along Interstate 285 at Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in southwest Atlanta.
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The machinery will dig out and replace 2 miles’ worth of concrete slab between MLK Jr. Drive and Cascade Road, in both directions.
During each leg of the project, sections of 285 will have to be completely shut down.
The Georgia Department of Transportation’s Natalie Dale said this weekend’s construction is the beginning of a three-year, $370 million, 17-mile makeover on 285.
Convenience store manager Amir Kahn just wishes his place didn’t sit in the middle of it all.
During the course of this weekend, some of his customers will be cut off.
“We have 8 gas pumps. It’s a busy gas station. That’s tough for business,” Kahn said.
It’s tough for Harper, too. But she has priorities.
“I take 285 to go to church on Sunday,” Harper told Petersen.
“So, you’re going to figure it out?” Petersen asked.
“Oh, yeah,” Harper said.
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