New Atlanta express lanes open

Drivers in the US city of Atlanta will benefit from reduce congestion and faster journeys with the opening of new reversible toll lanes. The Metro-Atlanta Northwest Corridor’s reversible express lanes have now been opened to the public. Part of the Northwest Corridor project, this has included the design and construction of 50km of new reversible toll lanes. The work has also included six new express lane interchanges, three new access points, and 39 new bridges. The Northwest Corridor will provide reduced commute times with dedicated toll lanes flowing traffic inbound (south) in the mornings and outbound (north) during the evenings.

A key portion of the project has been carried out by 3220 Parsons, while the work included input from the 3328 Georgia Department of Transportation’s (GDOT).  The new reversible lanes will benefit from the use of the NaviGAtor Intelligent Transportation System (ITS), a rebranded version of Parsons’ Intelligent NETworks advanced transportation management software. The NaviGAtor ITS will be used by GDOT for monitoring traffic, controlling messaging signs, and operating access gates. In addition, the Parsons team supported the Georgia State Road and Tollway Authority (SRTA) by providing the design/furnish/installation of the ITS network and the installation/configuration of Parsons’ iNET software to collect traffic volumes and enable dynamic toll pricing.

The Northwest Corridor is one of the Atlanta region’s most congested travel corridors according to GDOT. With an anticipated 17 million trips/ year, drivers are expected to see shorter commutes in both the express lanes and the general purpose lanes. On the corridor’s inaugural weekday commute, the general purpose lanes saved drivers approximately 60 minutes on commute time.