Northwest Corridor Project
The Northwest Corridor Project (formerly Northwest Corridor HOV/BRT) and locally known as the Tollercoaster, is a Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) project which has completed construction to put Peach Pass-only toll lanes (and originally bus rapid transit and HOV lanes) along Interstate 75 and Interstate 575 in the northwestern suburbs of metro Atlanta. It will carry commuters between northwest Atlanta and Cobb and Cherokee counties by adding two lanes for paying vehicles along I-75, with one continuing up a dedicated exit onto I-575 to Sixes Road (mile 11, former exit 6), and the other straight on I-75 to Hickory Grove Road, just past Wade Green Road (mile 273, former exit 118). North of the highway interchange where they split, the new lanes were put in the road median, between the existing northbound and southbound traffic. From the Perimeter (Interstate 285 on the northside) to I-575, the road had already been built with 12 to 16 lanes, which required other plans, including via eminent domain.
Original plans
HOV-only exits would be built at roads which currently cross the highways, but have no access to it. Bus stations would also be built at these points, with park-and-ride parking lots. New lanes would be divided from the regular ones by concrete barriers, not just by white double-stripes as was done by GDOT inside the Perimeter. There were originally no plans to allow or even design for later contraflow lane usage for rush hours.
Truck lanes
There were also plans to add two truck-only lanes in each direction, further expanding the highway by another six lanes (including emergency lanes). Separating traffic was proposed because it would smooth traffic and make the main lanes safer for cars. However, it would also effectively end the subsidy the industry gets by using roads which are mainly paid-for by the public (in contrast with railroads, which maintain their own tracks and pay per-mile taxes on them on top of that).
Criticisms
Criticisms of the plan include adding yet more lanes to already-oversized highways, and adding traffic to smaller roads by putting exits on them. Another major criticism is that it fails to consider commuter rail, light rail, or any other rail system seriously as an alternative. There are already state-owned rail tracks running CSX freight trains parallel to I-75, and Georgia Northeastern Railroad tracks branching off parallel to I-575, which would cost far less in terms of both money and disruption from construction. Though cleaner-burning natural gas buses would likely be used, there are no plans that call for them to be trolleybuses with an overhead double-catenary system, such as in Seattle and Vancouver. Part of the problem is also that Georgia's constitution prohibits state gasoline tax money from being spent on anything except roads, which makes other alternatives like trains very difficult to fund, even though their entire intent is to relieve roads. This was further worsened when the state sales tax was removed on gasoline and the gas tax was raised instead.
Cobb county is also considering a BRT system, but along Cobb Parkway instead, which a study showed would worsen traffic there. The state has abandoned BRT as a part of the Northwest Corridor project, although the city of Marietta has still purchased and demolished some of the affordable apartments that were to be eliminated for one of the BRT stations.
Scaled plans
Citing the enormous cost of the plan (around four billion dollars), in summer 2009 it was scaled back to putting two barrier-separated reversible lanes on I-75 to I-575, and one in the median on each road north of there. There would no longer be HOV exits on I-575, just slip roads to northbound and from southbound lanes for access to and from regular exits. It was not stated how much land would be taken on the southern portion. There was already a provision for a future HOV exit in the median at the Terrell Mill Road underpass, however the remainder has no median, only a wide left shoulder and a concrete barrier. It was also left unknown how the lanes would tie into the interchange at I-285.
Completion
As of September 2018, it is completed, but without any public transit. However, the Cobb County bus system (CobbLinc)[1] as well as the state-funded commuter bus system (GRTA Xpress)[2] have stated they intend to shift the bus routes currently using I-75 or I-575 to the express toll lanes. The lanes were announced open to the public on September 8 and toll-free for two weeks; however, all who use the lanes will be required to have a Peach Pass (which has a minimum $20 toll load, plus other fees) to access it. Unlike the northeast express lanes on I-85 in Gwinnett, the northwest lanes are still charging high-occupancy vehicles and alternative-fuel vehicles.
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