Bridge traffic on Hammond Drive to be diverted

Traffic on Hammond Drive will be moved onto a new bridge section across Ga. 400 starting Dec. 10, according to the Perimeter Center Community Improvement Districts. Rerouting begins at 9 p.m. Traffic will continue to move across the new bridge through the summer.

Officials of the Georgia Department of Transportation said traffic will be moved to the new bridge section so the old, four-lane Hammond Bridge can be demolished and rebuilt. When completed, the new bridge will be nine lanes wide and be higher than the bridge it replaces.

Also, the West Concourse Drive access at Hammond Drive will be closed for a period, a Georgia DOT official told officials at PCID.

Dan Willard, Georgia DOT construction manager for the project, said cars will be able to use two lanes in each direction on the bridge in the summer while the median is being constructed. The project is to be completed in the fall of 2011.

The bridge construction is part of an $18 million project to build a new “half-diamond” interchange at Hammond and Ga. 400, the PCID said in a press release. The project also is building new ramps from Hammond to Ga. 400. DOT is paying the $12 million cost of the bridge construction and PCID is providing nearly $5.5 million for the ramps, PCID officials said.