Outer Perimeter
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| Outer Perimeter |
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| Northern Arc | |||||||||
| Length: | approximately 55 miles (88 km) | ||||||||
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| Formed: | Cancelled | ||||||||
| West end: |  I-75 near Cartersville |
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| Major junctions: |
 I-575 near Canton SR 400 near Cumming I-985 in Buford |
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| East end: |  I-85 in Buford |
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The Outer Perimeter was an expressway originally planned to encircle Atlanta about 20 to 25 miles (about 30 to 40 km) further away from the city than the existing Perimeter Highway (I-285).
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[edit] Planning
The original plan of the highway was to have roughly gone through or near the communities of Cartersville, Canton, Cumming, Buford, Dacula, Loganville, Conyers, McDonough, Hampton, Newnan, Peachtree City, Villa Rica, and Dallas. The roadway was to have roughly paralleled State Route 20, which goes around three sides of Atlanta.
A later incarnation of the highway only encompassed what was termed the Northern Arc and included the portion of the original planned highway from Interstate 75 near Cartersville across to Interstate 85 near the Mall of Georgia in Buford. One proposal tied to this version would have reportedly limited exits to five major highway interchanges, at the freeways that crossed it: I-75; I-575; Georgia 400; I-985; and I-85.
The Northern Arc was to have been a toll road under another proposal, which advocates say would have kept most local traffic away from the highway, while freeing it for trucks. Opponents said that despite the toll, the road would have encouraged additional development and congestion, creating the continued urban sprawl that, at times, threatens to overwhelm areas much closer to Atlanta-proper.
[edit] Route designation
The highway was to have been officially designated Interstate 485. Although officially denied by the GDOT, it would also have carried an internal Interstate highway number of State Route 500.[citation needed] Advocates of the highway touted its use by long-distance truck drivers to have them completely avoid the congestion of the highways much closer to Atlanta.
The original Perimeter, I-285, which was originally planned as a bypass of the city, has in effect become one of the main freeway routes for both local traffic and traffic passing through the Atlanta area.[citation needed]
[edit] Current status
Budgetary constraints, political pressure, and public opposition supposedly killed plans for both incarnations of the road. However, the Northern Arc resurfaced in February 2007, with suggestions that it be placed further north, out of the current path of exurban land development.[citation needed]
