ATLANTA — The Georgia Department of Transportation will choose a private partner on Thursday to help build 19 miles of new express lanes on Interstate 285. The lanes would span Cobb, DeKalb and Fulton counties.
“Express lanes provide that reliability that you can count on, that you’re going to get at least 45 miles an hour better, and it gives you that certainty for when you need,” GDOT Commissioner Russell McMurray said.
We’re breaking down how much these express lanes could cost you to drive in, LIVE on Channel 2 Action News This Morning from 4 a.m. to 9 a.m.
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The state says the partnership could deliver express lanes it cannot otherwise afford. The private company will pay to build the lanes and pay Georgia a fee. But in return, the partnership would let the company collect toll revenue for the next 50 years.
Channel 2’s Michael Doudna looked into previous deals to understand how the public-private partnerships work.
The first deal of its kind laid out the plans for an express lane project on Georgia 400, which started construction this year.
Tim Matthews directs the private-public-partnership division at the Georgia Department of Transportation.
He says GDOT’s new approach could let the state avoid putting the cost of building new lanes onto taxpayers directly.
“We get more than we can afford when we go that way,” Matthews said.
But in other states, these partnerships have run into problems.
In North Carolina, toll prices have doubled the original projections, and the high prices have left the toll roads with little traffic, even during the most congested times.
Georgia officials though say the traffic system isn’t the same here as it is in North Carolina and they have guardrails in place.
“There are guardrails in the contract that look at affordability, access, and the needs of people who depend on this corridor,” Ericka Bayonne, the chief communications officer for the State Road and Tollway Authority, told Doudna last month.
Bayonne pointed out that rather than only being available to drivers, the express lanes on I-285 will provide opportunities for transit expansion and registered carpool vans to take advantage of the more reliable travel times.
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