The U.S. Department of Transportation is providing the final $5 million in funding to construct a ramp connecting Akers Mill Road to the Northwest Corridor Express Lanes.
The $5 million grant is from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Infrastructure for Rebuilding America’s Nationally Significant Freight and Highway Projects (INFRA) program, and is the final funding component of the nearly $44 million project.
That money has come from state, local and other federal funding sources as well as the nearby Cumberland Community Improvement District
(Info sheet here from the Cumberland CID.)
The 29.7-mile express lanes opened late last summer along I-75 between an area just north of Akers Mill and Hickory Grove Road in north Cobb, and along I-575 in Cobb to Sixes Road in Cherokee County.
Georgia DOT estimates nearly 4.2 million trips along the toll lanes have been taken since they opened.
Drivers in the Akers Mill area who wish to use the managed lanes have had to travel several miles to reach access points, in particular at Terrell Mill Road.
The 24-foot reversible ramp will allow motorists to bypass congested local roads. Traffic estimates in the Cumberland area are around 100,000 trips a day.
The grant was hailed by county and Cumberland CID leaders, as well as U.S. senators Johnny Isakson and David Perdue, Congressman Barry Lowdermilk and Congresswoman Lucy McBath.
Construction on the Akers Mill Road ramp is expected to begin in 2021 and be completed by 2023.
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