A Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) project to extend the I-285 westbound auxiliary lane from Roswell Road to Riverside Drive, which includes replacing the Mount Vernon Highway bridge over the interstate, should begin construction in the third quarter of this year.
“It will completely replace the Mount Vernon bridge,” Rick O’Hara, the project manager in GDOT’s Office of Alternative Delivery told the Sandy Springs City Council at its May 16 work session.
He said these improvements will get GDOT ahead of the Express Lanes project so the public can benefit from operational improvements with fewer impacts during that larger project.
The Mount Vernon bridge replacement will be staged construction, so the existing bridge will not be closed, and no detours are planned. Periodic lane closures will happen with some of the work on the bridge, O’Hara said.
The bridge will have the same aesthetics when completed as designated by Sandy Springs in its contract with GDOT, with a stonework finish, decorative fencing and lighting.
The bridge construction will start around August with median work on I-285.
Also in the works is the widening of the Long Island Drive bridge, which is also expected to get underway later this year and be complete by the fourth quarter of 2024.