Two diverging diamond interchanges are planned for Columbus. When will they be completed?
A new traffic interchange near Bradley Park is in the works with construction likely finishing within the next few years.
The project will create a diverging diamond interchange (DDI) at the intersection of J.R. Allen Parkway and Bradley Park Drive. The design and location were approved by the Georgia Department of Transportation on Jan. 12, according to a GDOT release.
The project is in Land Lots 64, 65, 76 and 77. It will begin at the intersection of Bradley Park Drive with Stoneshoal Court and Brookstone Centre Parkway and end 400 feet east of the intersection of Bradley Park Drive with Belfast Drive, for an overall approximate length of 0.7 miles, according to GDOT.
It’ll be the second DDI project in Columbus, the other being the intersection of Buena Vista Rd. and I-185 in Columbus that is expected to be completed by the end of spring 2024, according to GDOT. The contract for that project was awarded to C.W. Matthews Contracting Co. Inc. for $25.6 million. C.W. Matthews has locations throughout Georgia, including Columbus, Athens and Norcross.
GDOT spokesperson Penny Brooks said the agency estimates the total cost for the J.R. Allen/Bradley Park Drive project to be $13.4 million. The project is federally funded.
When will construction begin?
Completion of the project is likely a couple of years away, Columbus Planning Director Rick Jones told the Ledger-Enquirer.
GDOT must finalize a design, which could take up to a year, before construction can start, Jones said.
When construction does begin, the bridge over Georgia 22 will be retained. A 48-hour maximum temporary detour will be necessary during construction, according to GDOT.
Jones said the city is working with GDOT to make sure that the project has “minimal impact” on the nearby businesses.
The project will replace the existing diamond interchange. Diamond interchanges are a common type of road junction, used where a highway (in this case, J.R. Allen) crosses a minor road (Bradley Park Dr.).
Why the city wants it
DDIs are found across Georgia, such as Dunwoody at the intersection of Ashford Dunwoody and I-285. They’re also found in Gwinnett County, at I-85 at Pleasant Hill Rd. and I-85 at Jimmy Carter Blvd.
The city has wanted a diverging diamond interchange at that location for “two or three years,” Jones said, mainly to reduce the potential for accidents.
“We’ve had some issues with (the location) for quite some time now,” Jones said. “We’ve had a couple of fatalities. And so we’re trying to improve the flow of traffic out there, but also the safety concerns out there as well for that whole area.”
Jones said the existing diamond interchange “confuses a lot of folks,” particularly when motorists leave Bradley Park Drive, travel east and try to merge with traffic.
At the same time, traffic going across the bridge above J.R. Allen tends to back up, particularly at one intersection on Bradley Park Drive, where motorists turn left into Target.
“All of those on- and off-ramps, we just realized there’s got to be something else done to them to make it work,” Jones said. “There’s potentially some real congestion problems out there that we’re trying to address.”
