I-75/I-85/GA 10, Atlanta, GA


I-75 and I-85 are combined on a MASSIVE freeway that skirts the east edge of Downtown Atlanta, GA 10 is the little freeway branching off to the east. Several other 'US' highways also have a presence in the area.

The Atlanta, GA area is a BOOMING metropolis that is sprawling out far and wide in all directions. With that growth comes a similarly massive amount of traffic. In response, the Georgia Department of Transportation developed a system of freeways to help move things along. Like most metro areas, though, sveral proposed routes were never completed. One of these never finished freeways was a proposed 'I-485' to go eastward from I-75/85 in the downtown area to the metro area's eastern suburbs.

What is now 'GA 10' is what was to be 'I-485'. In the days of major new urban freeway construction, it was completed as a stub running about 1 km eastward from I-75/85, rusuming as the proposed route neared the I-285 beltline. In more recent years, GA 10 was extended as a parkway eastward and then northeastward about 2 km to end at Ponce de Leon Av (US 29) just past the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library (built on the site of the proposed/never built interchange between 'I-485' and never built 'I-675') on the city's east side. (Note, the latest USGS topo maps do not yet show this completed parkway.)

There are also 'feeder' ramps connecting GA 10 into the downtown Atlanta surface streets at the I-75/85 interchange.

In part because 'I-675' was never built but also simply due to metro growth, GADOT MASSIVELY re-engineered the I-75/85 corridor in recent years, adding lanes, realigning ramps, etc. The result is a true 'main street' for carrying traffic in the metro area and is now the preferred way for north-south 'through' traffic to transit the metro area.

Oh, yeah, The Georgia Dome is at the east edge of the map, right next to Metropolitan Parkway (US 19/29/41). US 41 passes within a few km of several NFL stadia, including the ones in Green Bay, WI; Chicago, IL; Nashville, TN; Tampa, Fl and, of course, the one here in Atlanta. Unlike some other cities, ALL of the 'US' highway routes are still firmly in place on the streets of Atlanta!

Enjoy the game and may the best team win!!!



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