Georgia 400 toll lanes back on drawing board

ATLANTA — A plan to add toll lanes along Georgia 400 in Fulton and Forsyth counties is back on track a year after the State Transportation Board rejected the only qualifying bid on the project.

The Georgia Department of Transportation will issue a draft request for proposals next month from roadbuilding companies interested in competing in a second round of bidding, Tim Matthews, state express lanes administrator for the DOT, told board members.

Three roadbuilding consortiums have indicated interest and are being evaluated, Matthews said.

The project calls for two new toll lanes in each direction on Georgia 400 from the North Springs MARTA station in North Fulton north to McGinnis Ferry Road, and one toll lane in each direction from there north to McFarland Parkway in Forsyth County.

The new lanes will be built as a public-private partnership project, meaning the contractor will not only design and build the lanes but also finance the construction. The contractor will recover its investment by collecting the toll revenue.

The board rejected the earlier bid as far in excess of the $1.7 billion the DOT had budgeted for the work.

Matthews said the project also will include a transit component. MARTA is planning to run a bus-rapid transit line using the toll lanes from the North Springs station north to an existing park-and-ride lot on Windward Parkway in Alpharetta.

BRT stations are planned at the Georgia 400 interchanges with Holcomb Bridge Road and the North Point Mall, he said.

Matthews said the DOT plans to put out a final RFP for the project next March, with bids due in June. The board then would award the winning bid next August.

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