Georgia 400 commuters have already gotten a little bit of help during morning drive with the new shoulder lane in Sandy Springs. Now they are about to get some more relief.

The Georgia Department of Transportation says it will add another southbound lane between McFarland Parkway in south Forsyth County and Holcomb Bridge Road in Roswell. To do this, crews will convert the auxiliary merge lane into a regular travel lane.

Drivers entering Ga. 400 southbound at Windward Parkway, Old Milton, Haynes Bridge Road and Mansell will immediately need to merge into traffic.

“This new configuration along GA 400 allows us to maximize use of our existing pavement resources along the corridor,” said DOT Commissioner Keith Golden.  “By returning to a traditional entrance and exit merge format, we are able to provide motorists with more capacity and better mobility in this corridor without the cost of having to pave a new lane.”

The first section to get the new lane will be from Haynes Bridge Road to Mansell Road. It should be open by rush hour on Tuesday morning, weather permitting.

A DOT spokesman told News/Talk WSB’s Capt. Herb Emory that crews will start work overnight Monday to change signs and re-stripe the lanes. There will be some temporary lane closures overnight so crews can work.

The following week, crews will do the same thing between McFarland Parkway and Old Milton. The new lane should be ready on that stretch of Ga. 400 for morning drive on June 19^th.
 
The improvements mean an extra travel lane for nine miles between McFarland Parkway and Holcomb Bridge Road.
 
This is the second time in a month that the DOT has tried to help out drivers on Ga. 400.

Last month, crews opened up the southbound emergency lane for five miles from Holcomb Bridge Road to the North Springs MARTA station. Previously, only police and transit buses could use the shoulder lane.

That change made traffic horrible for the first two days as drivers adjusted. But since then the DOT says it has cut commute times by as much as 15 minutes from Windward Parkway to Northridge Road.

It will not say how much time drivers will save because of this new project.

Unlike the shoulder lane, this new lane will be open to all drivers all day.