COBB COUNTY, Ga. — This weekend’s full closure of Interstate 285 will run in a new stretch from previous closures, from Paces Ferry to Atlanta Road, with two miles between exits.
It’s similar to what we saw in May and June, when a section from Cascade to MLK was closed for road work.
Signs already warn drivers of the closure starting Friday at 7 p.m., both north and southbound on I-285.
Georgia Department of Transportation is telling drivers to stay away from the area and follow detours.
They also say to expect delays as the weekend closure pushes traffic to other metro interstates like the downtown connector and I-20.
Deante Clemmons, a barber at Dream Cuts who just moved their shop here in the last two weeks, also expects good and bad with more traffic on local roads around Vinings.
“It will be both. It will create a different traffic jam. People come through, so people see our business. But our clients will make it,” Clemmons told Channel 2’s Steve Gehlbach.
The shutdown of Interstate 285 is needed as crews work to rebuild and repave the road surface along the entire 14 miles of the westside freeway, making a safer and smoother ride.
“It’s pretty bad on the daily, but with the shutdown, it will be even worse, so traffic is probably going to double,” Melik Williams said.
Drivers who live at one of the impacted exits say they are making plans, with some planning to stay home.
Others don’t think it will be that bad.
“And people from here know how to get around it,” driver Daniel Burse said. “Now if you’re further down and you don’t know, then it’s going to impact it a little bit. But the fact that it’s just one exit, even those people won’t be too bad, I don’t think.”
All lanes of I-285 will reopen by 5 a.m. Monday, in time for the morning rush hour.
Those who use I-285 regularly will have to get used to the closures, with up to 40 full closures expected in different sections over the next three years to complete the project.
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