(ATLANTA, Ga.) — A Sandy Springs engineering firm won a nearly $7 million contract to to study transit on the top half of I-285.
The contract, which is signed for a two-year period, gives between $6.7 million to $7.5 million in the hands of CDM Smith to study where it would make sense to build bus stations along I-285, how much they would cost and related matters. GDOT will use the information as it seeks a firm to build, finance and operate the toll lanes for 50 years.
The Atlanta-Region Transit Link Authority Board approved the contract Thursday.
According to the board presentation given at Thursday’s meeting, the contract approval is the culmination of an earlier project plan.
In early 2022, the board, alongside the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, Cobb County, Fulton County, Gwinnett County, the Georgia Department of Transportation, and the Atlanta Regional Commission, entered into an agreement to procure, contract, and manage a project to create a Top End Express Lanes Transit Planning Project for I-285.
The board presentation said project partners include the above governments and agencies, as well as the cities of Atlanta, Brookhaven, Chamblee, Clarkston, Doraville, Dunwoody, Sandy Springs, Smyrna, and Tucker.
As proposed by the board, CDM Smith will plan and design two new barrier-separated express toll lanes in each direction of I-285, in order to provide more reliable trip times for private vehicles, as well as transit and vanpool vehicles.
The express lanes, according to the presentation, will be designed, constructed, financed, operated, and maintained by a private sector partner.
CDM Smith’s design will be used to build the lanes to run from one end of I-20 to the other across the top of the Atlanta perimeter.
The resulting agreement became a Memorandum of Understanding and opened the bidding process for prospective designers to win the project. CDM Smith is that winner.
When the MOU was first signed, officials said the project is intended to address the lack of transit options on I-285 and provide ways to integrate the expansion best for transit stations. Speaking with WSB-TV in May 2022, Chris Tomlinson, the executive director of the ATL, said the express lanes would be free for public transit, though still cost private drivers.
Beginning July 1, CDM Smith will enter a contract with the Atlanta-Region Transit Link Authority to plan for and design the transit project, and provision the services needed to complete the plan.
The contract award was set at $6.7 million, though depending on the process, could become as much as $7.5 million, which is the explicit cost cap for the project, according to documents from the ATL.
When complete, GDOT expects the transit line to open in 2028 in DeKalb County, and 2032 for Fulton and Cobb counties, according to ATL.