I don’t know Atlanta geography to have a whole lot to say about this, but some of my Savannah readers might have missed the news that the state’s first diverging diamond intersection opened at the beginning of June on the I-285 @ Ashford-Dunwoody Rd. bridge.
The concept is a pretty simple one even if it looks awfully confusing at first.
Cars on the bridge cross over to the other side of the road. Cars coming off 285 don’t have to cross any lanes of traffic whether they are turning left or right off the highway. Cars getting on to the highway — whether through right turns or left turns — never have to cross lanes of traffic.
In other words, a lot more cars continue to move at any given moment.
The changing traffic patterns are far less expensive than conventional solutions like adding lanes.
The system is apparently working out fine, despite the usual predictions of disaster from squelchers.
There’s another diverging diamond planned for Gwinnett County. There’s one planned in Asheville. There’s a new one in Maryland. There’s one planned for Lincoln, Neb..