Georgia State Route 400

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State Route 400
Length: 53.75 mi[1] (86.50 km)
Formed: 1971, 1993
South end: Interstate 85 in Buckhead
North end: S.R. 60 in Dahlonega
Georgia State Routes
< SR 388 SR 401 >

State Route 400 (always known locally as Georgia 400 or just 400) is a highway in the U.S. state of Georgia, concurrent with U.S. 19 from exit 4B until its terminus just south of Dahlonega. Georgia 400 goes from Atlanta, at I-85, to Buckhead, Sandy Springs, Roswell, Alpharetta, Cumming, Dawson County, and Dahlonega. Like the interstate highways, it is a limited access road (with exit ramps instead of intersections), but unlike the interstates (which were renumbered by the GDOT in 2000), the exit numbers do not indicate mileage: they still go up sequentially one-by-one. Once 400 passes exit 17 (S.R. 306), it changes from a limited access highway into an at-grade divided highway.

Between Interstate 85 and Interstate 285, Georgia 400 is designated "T. Harvey Mathis Parkway"; upon reaching the Perimeter and beyond, the highway is designated "Turner McDonald Parkway".

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Original Portion (I-285 to S.R. 306)

Planning for Georgia 400 began in 1954.[2] The initial section north of I-285 was officially dedicated on May 24, 1971[3] and subsequent additions to the north opened in stages through 1981. The road was subsequently widened in 1989 from its original four lane configuration to eight lanes between I-285 and Holcomb Bridge Road. The widening projects were necessitated by the massive growth that Georgia 400 brought to northern Fulton County and Forsyth County. In December 2005, the Georgia Department of Transportation began widening the section from Holcomb Bridge Road to Windward Parkway from three to four lanes in the northbound direction and from two to four lanes from Windward Parkway to McFarland Parkway. Southbound, the highway is being widened to four lanes between McFarland Parkway and Holcomb Bridge Road. In addition, sound barrier walls and a concrete divider in the median are also being added.

[edit] Georgia 400 Extension (I-85 to I-285)

Toll booth on Georgia 400 on the southbound side
Toll booth on Georgia 400 on the southbound side
Passing under Buckhead on GA 400 Southbound
Passing under Buckhead on GA 400 Southbound
Southbound lanes GA 400 north of Pitts Road overpass
Southbound lanes GA 400 north of Pitts Road overpass

The southern section of Georgia 400 (from I-285 to I-85) was the last section to be constructed. It is the only active toll road in Georgia, after the F.J. Torras Causeway toll between Brunswick and St. Simons Island in southern Georgia was removed in 2003[4]. The road opened to traffic on August 1, 1993 after three years of construction. Many remaining residents now live on dead end streets with significant noise pollution. Existing exits were renumbered up by four to accommodate the extension, which has a single toll plaza in the middle of its length. Contrary to public belief, the bonds that funded the construction of Georgia 400 south of I-285 will not be paid off until 2011. There is also currently no direct access from Georgia 400 southbound to I-85 northbound or vice versa, except by an indirect route via Sidney Marcus Boulevard. In addition, the North Line for Atlanta's MARTA system was constructed in the median from the Glenridge Connector to south of Lenox Road and was opened on June 8, 1996.

The Georgia 400 toll plaza, operated by the State Road and Tollway Authority, collects tolls in both the northbound and southbound directions. Each direction has two open-road toll lanes, which collect tolls at highway speeds using the Georgia Cruise Card electronic tag, and seven gated toll lanes which accept either cash or Cruise Cards. The toll facility handles a total of approximately 120,000 vehicles per day. About 37% of transactions are paid via Cruise Card.

At one time, Georgia 400 was to connect to Interstate 675 in DeKalb County; however, residents in northern DeKalb County did not want the highway to cut through their neighborhoods and had the idea killed.

[edit] Major cities

Bolded cities are officially-designated control cities for signs.

  • Atlanta
  • Cumming
  • Dahlonega

[edit] Major intersections

[edit] Exit list

The following exits are listed south to north and are numbered sequentially. The mileage shown in the table is measured from the I-85 interchange at the southern end.

County Location # Mile Destinations Notes
Fulton Atlanta   0.0
Interstate 85 South – Downtown Atlanta, Atlanta Airport		 Unsigned SR 403; southern terminus; southbound exit and northbound entrance
1 0.6

Sidney Marcus Boulevard – to I-85 North		 Southbound exit and northbound entrance
2 2.8 SR 141 Conn (Lenox Road) Single-point urban interchange
Toll plaza – 2 axle vehicle $.50, 3 axles $1.50, $.50 per additional axle
Sandy Springs 3 6.6 Glenridge Perimeter Connector Formerly SR 407 Loop; northbound use Exit 4A (unnumbered exit from 4A's collector-distributor lanes)
4A 6.8
Interstate 285 East – Greenville, Augusta		 Unsigned SR 407; southbound entrance ramp is a left merge
4B 6.9
Interstate 285 West/US 19 South – Marietta, Chattanooga, Birmingham		 Unsigned SR 407; US 19 joins northbound and leaves southbound; northbound entrance ramp is a left merge
concurrency
5 8.4 Abernathy Road – Dunwoody, Sandy Springs Northbound exit split into 5A (Dunwoody) and 5B (Sandy Springs)
5C 10.0 North Springs MARTA station Southbound exit and northbound entrance only
6 12.0 Northridge Road
Roswell 7 15.0 SR 140 (Holcomb Bridge Road) – Roswell, Norcross Northbound exit split into 7A (Norcross) and 7B (Roswell)
Alpharetta 8 16.4 Mansell Road North Point Mall
9 18.3 Haynes Bridge Road North Point Mall
10 19.6 SR 120 (Old Milton Parkway) – Alpharetta
11 21.0 Windward Parkway
Forsyth   12 23.8 McFarland Parkway Northbound exit split into 12A (east) and 12B (west)
  13 28.0 SR 141 (Peachtree Parkway) – Cumming, Norcross Johns Creek
  14 30.8 SR 20 – Cumming, Sugar Hill, Buford Lake Lanier Islands; northbound exit split into separate east- and westbound exit ramps.
Cumming 15 32.8 Bald Ridge Marina Road Bald Ridge Marina, Cumming Fairgrounds
  16 34.7 Pilgrim Mill Road Lake Sidney Lanier
  17 36.3 SR 306 (Keith Bridge Road) – Cumming, Gainesville
Freeway ends; continue

[edit] Other major intersections

Dawson County

Lumpkin County

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ 2002 Georgia Department of Transportation 444 Report
  2. ^ City of Roswell, Georgia, Comprehensive Plan 2025: Chapter 6 Historic Preservation Element, November 7, 2005, p.172
  3. ^ Roswell, A Pictorial History, Roswell Historical Society, Darlene M. Walsh (Editor), 2nd Edition, 1994, p.150, ISBN 0-9615854-2-0
  4. ^ Governor's Press Release on Torras Causeway Toll Decommissioning

[edit] External links