Georgia's State Transportation Board voted to work with the State Road & Tollway Authority to move forward on projects to add toll lanes to the top half of I-285 and along Georgia 400 to North Springs station.
GDOT will seek bids on the I-285 East Express Lanes project first, covering a stretch from Georgia 400 east and south to Interstate 20, according to a report in Capitol Beat. Procurement for the I-285 West Express Lanes from Georgia 400 west and south to I-20 will follow.
In March, GDOT issued a request for information seeking feedback from private sector entities on the procurement approach for the design, construction, financing, tolling, operation, maintenance, and handback of the I-285 express lanes. The scope of the initial phase has not yet been finalised. Phase 1 is expected to be procured under as a long-term design-build-finance-operate-maintain (DBFOM) agreement. The remaining phases are expected to be developed under a comprehensive development agreement, under which the selected partner will propose a development plan for each subsequent phase. The remaining phases are expected to be delivered under a series of DBFOM agreements.
In 2016 GDOT entered into a contract for the I-285/SR 400 interchange reconstruction project involves the construction of direct connector ramps and collector-distributor lanes between I-285 and SR 400 to reduce congestion at a major metropolitan Atlanta interchange carrying over 400,000 vehicles per day. North Perimeter Partners, led by Ferrovial is the private partner on the US$803m project, which it financed with a Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loan.
