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SANDY SPRINGS: Changes posed for Hammond, Ga. 400

By Cynthia Daniels The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on: 06/28/07

Sandy Springs residents soon could be looking at a very different interchange of Hammond Drive and Ga. 400, with work starting as soon as fall.

A new five-lane bridge for Hammond Drive was included in a draft version of the Atlanta Regional Commission's latest metro Atlanta transportation plan.

But the widened bridge is only part of the equation.

The Perimeter Community Improvement District is partnering with the Georgia Department of Transportation to seek approval from the Federal Highway Commission to add more pieces to that project.

Those pieces are:

  • An exit ramp onto Hammond Drive for drivers traveling south on Ga. 400.
  • An entrance ramp from Hammond Drive onto Ga. 400 north.
  • A north and south auxiliary lane on Ga. 400 from Hammond Drive to Abernathy Road.

Yvonne D. Williams, president of the PCID, said she anticipates the commission's decision on the ramps around midsummer. If they are approved, Williams said, the project could have a fall groundbreaking.

"The Hammond bridge is going to happen, yes, but it won't be a significant improvement without a ramp that helps get traffic on and off," Williams said. "When we help pay for that and get clearance, we have a better package of improvements than if we wait for the Ga. 400 collector and distributor lanes [which are six to eight years away]."

Those lanes would sort traffic before it entered the main lanes north of the Perimeter, stretching from Hammond Drive and Abernathy Road up to Spalding Drive. Also under consideration right now is a private proposal to add HOV and optional toll lanes alongside Ga. 400 all the way from I-85 to Ga. 20 near Cumming, for which the construction work alone would take five years.

The PCID and GDOT plan to share the Hammond Drive project's costs - with the PCID, a self-taxing business district located partly in Sandy Springs and partly across the county line in DeKalb, paying an estimated $5 million and the GDOT paying about $12 million.

This "should improve traffic significantly on the east side of Ga. 400 and Abernathy Road," said Jon Drysdale, deputy public works director for Sandy Springs. "This is going to give all Sandy Springs residents another route to get on Ga. 400 and off of Ga. 400, so it will be an improvement."

Still, many residents fear the additional entrance to Ga. 400 will dump more traffic onto Hammond Drive, which is a two-lane stretch of single-story ranch homes for the first half-mile east of Roswell Road.

Drysdale said those residents are probably right, although until future traffic studies are complete, there's no way to measure the amount of traffic the interchange will spawn.

The city plans to spend $200,000 on a concept design for a widening of Hammond Drive from Roswell Road to Glenridge Drive, although there's no construction money in the budget to begin that project.

But, Drysdale said, "things are possible, and the need is important." He added, "you can't really ask for money until you've got a plan."

Staff writer Ariel Hart contributed to this article