ICE served as the Lead Designer on the design-build team for this GDOT project that consisted of widening I-85 from two to three lanes in both directions from I-985 to SR 53. It also included replacing three 50+ year old overpass bridges (Spout Springs Road bridge, Flowery Branch Road bridge, and Jesse Cronic Road bridge); replacing the I-85 mainline bridges over Mulberry River; reducing the grass median with a paved shoulder and median barrier; upgrading signing, striping, and guardrail; and constructing approximately 28,000 linear feet of noise barriers. The purpose of the project was to relieve anticipated congestion and improve operational efficiency. As part of the project development, ICE accelerated portions of the design to provide early release construction packages to facilitate early turn-over of the additional third lane, rather than waiting to turn all of the project over at one time. For the replacement of the I-85 mainline bridges over Mulberry River, ICE was responsible for providing all structural design and staging / MOT plans to facilitate the construction of the bridges while maintaining two lanes of traffic.
This project was the first Major Mobility Investment Program (MMIP) project to break ground in Georgia and was opened to traffic on June 19, 2020, 41 days ahead of schedule. It was also recently awarded a 2021 ACEC Engineering Excellence Merit Award.
