New Bridge Design for Pleasant Hill Road over I-85
10/21/2010
New Bridge Design for Pleasant Hill Road over I-85
Want to avoid gridlock? Drive on the wrong side of the road! Innovative bridge design for Pleasant Hill Road.
Relieving traffic congestion and improving access throughout greater Gwinnett Place is the number one priority established by the CID’s Board of Directors. A retrofit of the Pleasant Hill Road Bridge over Interstate 85 is at the heart of that objective.
In the near future, Pleasant Hill Road could be home to one of Georgia’s first diverging-diamond interchanges (DDI) – a revolutionary traffic solution where drivers cross over to the “opposite” side of the road to greatly improve traffic movement.
The DDI offers many near-term advantages beyond a total bridge reconstruction:
• Immediate reductions in traffic delays throughout
the interchange
• Significant improvements in safety for both pedestrians
and vehicles
• Maintains the existing bridge structure
• Dramatically reduces construction time and impacts
to local businesses
• Considerably less costly to build
The DDI is especially beneficial to Gwinnett Place because it moves traffic more quickly by reducing the number of stops, increases capacity and drops the average vehicle delay time by up to 26 percent. The DDI is also designed to provide improved levels of service for the next decade.
The CID has contracted with URS Corp. to undertake and perform consulting and professional engineering services related to the preliminary and final design for the retrofit of a DDI at the Pleasant Hill Road bridge over I-85.
The CID is also working closely with local, state and federal transportation authorities to complete the necessary planning to adapt the Pleasant Hill Road bridge for a DDI and move it forward into construction.
For a more extensive look at the DDI project, visit GwinnettPlaceCID.com and select the “Projects & Plans” button from the top menu. “Pleasant Hill Road Bridge” is the leading option under the “projects initiatives” tab on the left-hand side of the screen.
