Downtown Connector
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Image:Downtown connector daytime.jpg Image:Downtown connector nighttime.jpg In Atlanta, Georgia, the Downtown Connector or 75/85 (pronounced "seventy-five eighty-five") is the overlapped route of Interstate 75 and Interstate 85 through the core of the city. Beginning at the I-85/Langford Parkway interchange, the Downtown Connector runs generally due north, meeting the east-west Interstate 20 in the middle. Just north of this is the Grady Curve around Grady Memorial Hospital. Continuing north, the terminus of the Downtown Connector is the Brookwood Interchange or Brookwood Split in the Brookwood area of the city. The overall length of the Downtown Connector is approximately seven and one-half miles.
The highway was constructed in the early 1950s as a six-lane thoroughfare, and was heavily reconstructed during the 1980s as part of the Freeing the Freeways program to widen Atlanta-area interstates. Today the highway carries as many as 16 lanes of traffic in some sections, placing it among the widest roads in the world. In addition to the general purpose lanes, there is a High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lane in each direction for the entire length of the highway. The proposed Interstate 475 was originally planned by GDOT to carry some north/south traffic through the eastern side of the city, but most of this was cancelled in the 1970s under Jimmy Carter, former governor of Georgia. (Parts of that road are now Interstate 675 and State Route 400.) As of 2006, the Downtown Connector carries more than 340,000 vehicles a day and is considered one of the 10 most congested stretches of interstate in the U.S.[1]. Due to this fact, many motorists often compare Atlanta to Los Angeles, California, which is also known for its notoriously-congested freeway system.
The highway is fully instrumented with Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) devices. There are nineteen closed-circuit television cameras between the Langford Pkwy interchange (south end) and the Brookwood Interchange (north end). Additionally, the Downtown Connector has three large overhead electronic message signs, and four smaller HOV-dedicated message signs on the median barrier wall. Traffic flow data is gathered through a video detection system, using pole-mounted black-and-white cameras spaced every 1/3 mile on both sides of the roadway. All video and data is fed into the Georgia Department of Transportation's Transportation Management Center (TMC), via fiber optic cable located under the shoulders of the roadway.
The city's skyline, both Downtown and Midtown Atlanta, can be seen from the highway, especially at the northern and southern ends. The route also goes directly past Turner Field; formerly known as Centennial Olympic Stadium, where the opening and closing ceremonies and track and field events were held for the Centennial 1996 Summer Olympics.
[edit] Exit list
Exits are numbered from south to north, in accordance with AASHTO guidelines. Mile markers and exit numbers have always been posted according to I-75 only, but once re-joining I-85 the numbers continue as if the motorist were traveling I-85 the entire time (not just picking up where they left off).
| # | Destinations | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Old | New | ||
| Image:I-75.svg joined by Image:I-85.svg to form Downtown Connector | |||
| 87 | 242 | Image:South plate blue.svg Image:I-85.svg Interstate 85 South - Atlanta Airport; Montgomery, AL ( south) | Southbound exit and northbound entrance; unsigned Image:Georgia 403.svg SR 403 |
| 88 23 | 243 77 | Image:Georgia 166.svg SR 166 (Langford Parkway) - East Point | Exit 77 on I-85 north |
| 89 | 244 | Image:South plate.svg Image:Georgia 54.svg SR 54 South (University Avenue, Pryor Street) | |
| 90 | 245 | Abernathy Boulevard, Capitol Avenue - Turner Field | Northbound exit and southbound entrance |
| 91 | 246 | Fulton Street, Central Avenue - Downtown, Turner Field | |
| 92 | 247 | Image:I-20.svg Interstate 20 (Ralph D. Abernathy Freeway) - Augusta, Birmingham, AL | Unsigned Image:Georgia 402.svg SR 402 |
| 93 | 248A | M L King Jr. Drive - State Capitol, Turner Field | Southbound exit and northbound entrance |
| 94 | 248B | Edgewood Avenue, Auburn Avenue, J W Dobbs Avenue, Jesse Hill Jr. Drive | Exit 248D (old 95) southbound |
| 96 | 248C | Image:East plate.svg Image:Georgia 10.svg SR 10 east (Andrew Young International Boulevard, Freedom Parkway) - Carter Center | |
| 97 | 249A | Courtland Street - Georgia State University | Southbound exit only |
| 98 | 249B | Pine Street, Peachtree Street - Civic Center, Crawford Long Hospital | Northbound exit only |
| 99 | 249C | Williams Street - Georgia World Congress Center, Georgia Dome | Southbound exit only |
| 100 | 249D | Image:US 29.svgImage:US 78.svgImage:US 278.svgImage:Georgia 8.svg US 19/US 29/US 78/US 278/SR 8 (Spring Street, West Peachtree Street), North Avenue - Georgia Tech | |
| 102 26 | 250 84 | Image:US 19.svgImage:Georgia 9.svg U.S. Route 19/State Route 9), 10th Street, 14th Street, 16th Street, 17th Street - Atlantic Station, Georgia Tech | No northbound entrance to I-85; Exit 84 on I-85 south |
| 103 | 251 | Image:North plate blue.svgImage:No image.svgImage:To plate.svg Image:I-85.svgImage:Georgia 400.svg Interstate 85 North, to SR 400 North - Greenville, SC | Northbound exit and southbound entrance; unsigned Image:Georgia 403.svg SR 403 |
| Image:I-75.svg continues | |||
