Interstate 575

Infobox road
state=GA
type=I
route=575

---

alternate_name=Phillip M. Landrum Memorial Highway
maint=Georgia DOT
length_mi=30.97
length_round=2
length_ref=cite web|url=http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/reports/routefinder/table2.cfm|title=Route Log and Finder List - Interstate System: Table 2|publisher=FHWA|accessdate=2007-10-08]
established=1979; 1985
direction_a=South
terminus_a=Jct|state=GA|I|75|SR|5 in Kennesaw
junction=
direction_b=North
terminus_b=Jct|state=GA|SR|5|SR|372|SR|515 near Ball Ground
previous_type=SR
previous_route=416
browse_route=
next_type=SR
next_route=418

Interstate 575 (I-575) is an Interstate highway spur route in the United States, which branches off Interstate 75 in Kennesaw and connects the metro Atlanta area with the north Georgia mountains. I-575 is also the unsigned State Route 417 and is cosigned as S.R. 5. I-575 begins in northern Cobb County and goes mostly through Cherokee County, ending at its northern border with Pickens County. It is 31 miles (49.85 km) long.

It is also the Phillip M. Landrum Memorial Highway in honor of Phillip M. Landrum.

The exit from Interstate 75 to I-575 was formerly Exit #115 and it is now Exit #268. This change was made when Georgia change away from numbering exits consecutively, and to numbering them by the closest mile-marker.

Route description

For almost all of its length, I-575 has two lanes in each direction, with a road median of grass, along with crepe myrtle (a locally-common landscaping tree) or wildflowers, both of which are summer-flowering. Each direction has one truck lane for climbing uphill (mile 12 to 13 northbound, mile 10 to 9 southbound), two extended acceleration lanes (north from Towne Lake Parkway and south from Marietta Highway), and two auxiliary lanes (connecting Bells Ferry and Chastain Roads).

The City of Holly Springs recently annexed land all the way down to Sixes Road, and their police have been seen giving out many tickets along this stretch of road, leading some to believe it may be used as a speed trap in order to increase city revenue. Holly Springs was notorious for decades for the speed trap it had set up on the former S.R. 5 prior to the completion of I-575 and has apparently carried over this practice to the interstate. Other cities that have annexed I-575 include Canton and Ball Ground. Ball Ground is another infamous speed trap, but has yet to start radar enforcement on their stretch.

History

Like I-985, I-575 was mostly constructed as a suburban spur highway, intended to served an underdeveloped area for future settlement, rather than as one to relive congestion, or to link I-75 to an existing city or large town.

The first stage of I-575 was constructed in 1979 from I-75 to S.R. 92 near Woodstock and was opened to traffic on October 16,1980. The next section to S.R. 20 began construction in 1981, and was opened on March 29,1985 as far north as Exit 11 (now Exit 20). The section between the original Exit 8 (now 16A) and Exit 10 (now 19) was originally part of the Canton Bypass (S.R. 20), which was constructed in 1978. The final portion of I-575 to past Howell Bridge Road and Georgia 372 opened later, and that extended the highway to its present length of 31 miles (50 km), although the northernmost one mile given in this length was not constructed up to Interstate highway standards, since it extends past a surface ("at-grade") intersection.

Relocation of State Route 5

I-575 is now co-signed throughout its length with Georgia Route-5. Georgia Route-5 was completely removed from its former alignment in 1985-86 over a nearly 70 mile stretch from Marietta all the way to north of Ellijay - far beyond the I-575 terminal point. S.R. 205 was also deleted when I-575 opened in Cherokee County in 1985, returning what is now the northernmost part of Bells Ferry Road to local a jurisdiction. Part of its old route was briefly designated by a state project route number that appeared on maps as S.R. 754. This mostly consisted of a widening project planned on the route. The counties along the way did not want to fund it since the route had been state-maintained, and then returned to county maintenance in 1986. When Woodstock, Georgia rejected that widening project, S.R. 754 was truncated south of State Route 92, and it was fully turned back in 2001 when the entire project was completed. State Route 754 was not signed, however.

Most of the former Georgia Route-5 did not get such treatment, and all of it was originally deleted except a portion in Canton, Georgia designated as Georgia Route-5-Business and another part that joined S.R. 372 to the new route using part of the old route. Another such Georgia Route-5-Business was added in Ball Ground in 1989, completing a business loop through Ball Ground that is still largely covered by S.R. 372. Georgia Route-5 continues northward co-signed with State Route 515, Corridor A of the Appalachian Development Highway System.

Future

Auxiliary lanes

In February 2006, GDOT will let two bids to add auxiliary lanes in both directions on the road shoulder, in between two pairs of short-spaced exits. The larger project is in Woodstock between S.R. 92 and Towne Lake Parkway, where nearly two million dollars will be spent. This will take a mainly grassy area next to an RV dealership on the east (northbound) side, but will destroy what little is left of a buffer of trees on the opposite side. It will also require a sound barrier wall north of Dupree Road, because it will take the back yards of existing homes. The other bid is for a shorter distance on the northeast side of Canton, between S.R. 20 and S.R. 5 Business (Riverstone Parkway).

Widening

The southern part of I-575 is slated to be widened to a total of six through lanes in the next few years, as part of the Northwest Corridor HOV/BRT plan from the GRTA. The extra lane in each direction will extend up to Sixes Road, and is planned to be an HOV/HOT lane, with special exits at smaller roads that now currently do not have any direct access. Rather than upgrading the parallel Georgia Northeastern Railroad rail tracks to handle commuter rail, GRTA proposes to depend on bus rapid transit (the BRT part), and instead build bus stations along these smaller two-lane routes, many of which are already crowded at rush hour.

There would also be separate new HOV ramps built to southbound and from northbound I-75. That highway is proposed to have eight lanes added to it, with one pair going straight to I-575. All widening on I-575 would be done in the median.

Rope Mill Road

A new exit has also been approved in October 2005 by the GDOT at Rope Mill Road (Ashland Parkway to the west, Woodstock Parkway to the east and south), between Towne Lake Parkway and Sixes Road. This is planned to be a full diamond interchange, rather than an HOV/HOT exit. Crossing at mile 9.6, it could be given mile number 9 or 10, and would have been 5A under the actual exit numbers used until 2000. The project will cost 13 million dollars, and will mainly benefit developers of the Ridgewalk area. However, the project is part of a greater plan to create a northern by-pass of Woodstock, connecting north of the downtown to Arnold Mill Road, helping to relieve some of the congestion in the completely traffic-choked downtown. The intent to create a new area of development around the exit, however, is clear.

The background on Rope Mill Road was that the overpass presently there originally was built to provide access to private property and the now-defunct Little River Wildlife Management Area west of I-575. The overpass was actually part of an old alignment of Rope Mill Road that was relocated onto a frontage road east of I-575, so the bridge was basically a connection to a severed alignment of the road west of I-575. Rope Mill Road itself originally extended from Woodstock to Lebanon (locally known as Toonigh) before the bridge over Little River was removed in the early 1990s.

Federal Highway Administration officials had earlier rejected the plan due to its proximity to two other exits. There had also been a plan to put only a half-diamond exit on the north side of the road, using Woodstock Parkway on the east side and a new access road on the west side to connect it to Towne Lake, which would then have its ramps on the north side removed. Woodstock Parkway would have become northbound-only, with the new road being southbound only. This was objected to by residents who would have been up against the new road. No mention was made why Woodstock Parkway would not instead be widened into the area next to it (which was left along its entire length specifically for that purpose). [http://townelakerelo.com/category/traffic/]

Others

Other construction is planned for the now-busy interchange at Towne Lake Parkway, though this may change based on the Rope Mill Road exit.

Formerly-scenic Sixes Road was widened from a two-lane road to a four-lane divided highway west of I-575 to Bells Ferry Road, where it continues into the upscale BridgeMill development. The short section east of I-575, to where it ends at Old Highway 5, is also slated for widening; though this has even less traffic than the western part, and Old Highway 5 is only two lanes itself. Dates for this section are not yet firm.

Exit list

The following exits are listed south to north with mile-log numbering, which replaced the old sequential exit numbers in 2000.

References

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