Tom Moreland Interchange

Tom Moreland Interchange
Tom Moreland Interchange from I-85 traveling southbound
Spaghetti Junction
Location
Atlanta, Georgia
Coordinates:	33°53′30″N 84°15′33″W / 33.891744°N 84.259164°W / 33.891744; -84.259164 (Tom Moreland Interchange)Coordinates: 33°53′30″N 84°15′33″W / 33.891744°N 84.259164°W / 33.891744; -84.259164 (Tom Moreland Interchange)
Roads at junction:	I-85 I-285
Construction
Maintained by:	Georgia Department of Transportation
Map

Tom Moreland Interchange, colloquially known as Spaghetti Junction, is the intersection of Interstate 85 and Interstate 285, along with several access roads, in northern DeKalb County, Georgia, just northeast of Atlanta, Georgia, USA. It is named for Tom Moreland, a former commissioner of the Georgia Department of Transportation (1974-1987).

I-85 is a major traffic corridor from the northeastern suburbs of Atlanta in the Gwinnett County area into downtown Atlanta. I-285 is a beltway around Atlanta. In the northern I-285 corridor, in the area from I-85 counterclockwise to I-75, there has been a large amount of development of office space. Spaghetti Junction was designed to remove choke points and reduce congestion in the I-85 and I-285 interchange, which had been a cloverleaf.^[1]

Type of interchange

The interchange is a stack interchange. Because of a northeast-to-southwest ramp that passes over the fourth level of the interchange, Spaghetti Junction is a five-level stack interchange, not a traditional four-level stack. It contains additional ramps to accommodate traffic on three nearby side roads. The interchange currently handles approximately 300,000 vehicles each day. It has 14 bridges, the highest rising 90 feet (27 m), running from Northcrest Road to I-85 South. The newer interchange replaced an older cloverleaf interchange dating back to 1958 and was constructed between 1983 and 1987 as part of the Freeing the Freeways program to relieve congestion on Atlanta-area interstates.^[2]

Origin of nickname

After Gravelly Hill Junction in Birmingham, UK, which had opened two years before that, and earned its nickname by locals.

Popular culture

This is the titular feature of the Outkast song Spaghetti Junction on their 2000 album Stankonia.

See also

• Spaghetti Junction

References

1. ^ "Tom Moreland Interchange". ftp://imgs.ebuild.com/woc/C920087.pdf. 
2. ^ 3 digit interstates

External links