DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Early on Thursday morning, a key piece of the Interstate 285, Interstate 20 Interchange makeover will be open to drivers.
Channel 2’s Steve Gehlbach was in DeKalb County near part of I-20, where it isn’t a new flyover ramp that drivers need to know about, but a new decision point.
Drivers going west on I-20 now have all the way to the I-285 interchange to merge.
Starting Thursday morning, that point will instead be two miles earlier, all the way back before Wesley Chapel Road.
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Tow truck driver Moses Dantzler said it’s a good change.
“It’ll be very useful, very helpful,” Dantzler said.
He told Channel 2 Action News he’s seen a lot of wrecks at the I-20 and I-285 interchange, with a lot of confusion and weaving.
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“You run out of space kinda quick,” Dantzler said, saying that was what causes many of the crashes on that stretch of highway.
Georgia Department of Transportation spokesperson Kyle Collins said the interchange makeover to make the section safer and less congested is almost finished, with the last major milestone opening for Thursday morning’s commute.
Collins said it means a new Exit 67 on I-20 going to both north and south I-285, where there’s a new flyover.
“It’s going to be a huge change and going to be a mental switch people are going to have to make,” Collins told Channel 2 Action News.
Collins said drivers should expect to see work crews out early, finishing striping and shifting traffic before 5 a.m., so they’ll have to pay attention to new signs and remember to keep right as GPS and other apps might not update right away.
“You need to go ahead and get it in your brain that you’re going to have to make that decision point much earlier then you do now to either get to 285 or Wesley Chapel Road,” Collins said.
While the ramp will be open, some work still hasn’t quite finished.
GDOT still has to finish paving and some lanes will still have to open before the full I-285/I-20 East project is done. It is expected to be fully finished by mid-to-late September.
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