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The new diverging diamond interchange at Pleasant Hill Road and I-85 is apparently having a positive impact on the amount of time commuters are spending in traffic.
Joe Allen, executive director of the Gwinnett Place Community Improvement District, says studies commissioned by the organization found the number of times commuters were stopped at traffic lights was cut in half and nearly the same amount of reduction could be found in total delays.
“For an average driver it may just be a few moments here and there but when you times that times 50,000-60,000 people using that bridge every day, it starts to add up,” he tells WSB’s Sandra Parrish.
Allen says before the DDI opened, it would sometimes take drivers up to four traffic signal cycles to make it from Club Drive to Gwinnett Place Mall.
“Now you can get through in one or two at the most,” he says.
Allen estimates the total savings in time and fuel for Gwinnett commuters will be $3.9 million a year.
Even though the DDI has been operational since June, he says the final touches are still being made. Now that the holidays are over, work will soon begin again.
Allen says now that congestion has improved at the interchange, the CID and the Gwinnett Department of Transportation are looking to address the new congestion point at Club Drive and Pleasant Hill.
Gwinnett’s second DDI at Jimmy Carter Boulevard is expected to open in a few months.
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