Drivers headed to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport navigated a new traffic pattern on Monday if they took the Camp Creek Parkway exit from Interstate 285.
The diverging diamond interchange opened after workers finished striping the new lane lines and checking traffic signals over the weekend, according to the Georgia Department of Transportation.
The exit is heavily used. The $13 million GDOT project is expected to reduce traffic accidents and improve mobility in the area, according to Gerald McDowell, executive director of Aerotropolis Atlanta community improvement districts, which worked with GDOT, East Point, College Park and Fulton County on the project.
“I drove through it this morning and, normally coming off the exit ramp, it would take me two [traffic light] cycles or more to make it through,” McDowell said in an email. In the new traffic pattern, he said, he made it through on the first green light.
The area remains a construction zone as contractors work on a pedestrian sidewalk. Motorists should “drive slowly and pay attention while navigating through the new lane configuration,” GDOT said in a news release. The project is set to be completed in May.
It’s the seventh diverging diamond interchange in Georgia. Several others also are located in metro Atlanta — off I-285 at Ashford-Dunwoody, off I-75 at Windy Hill Road, and off I-85 at Jimmy Carter Boulevard and at Pleasant Hill.
The new style of interchange routes drivers to lanes on the left side of the road to reduce turns to enter and leave the interstate, which cuts down on traffic back-ups.
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