Above Photo From Terraserver-USA.
This trumpet-style interchange was built around 1960 as the easternmost portion of a 4-lane divided highway (no access control) running from Cartersville to US 27/GA 1/53 in Rome (Floyd County).
The 4-lane divided highway in the southwestern corner is US 411 South/GA 20 West, which runs westward for 20 miles (32 km) to US 27/GA 1/53 in Rome. This particular stretch of highway was originally co-signed with US 411 as GA 344 until the mid 1970's.
US 41/GA 3 is the 4-lane divided highway that runs from northwest to southeast. US 41/GA 3 and US 411/GA 20 share pavement for 3 miles (5 km), where it meets GA 61. From there, US 411 joins GA 61 northward to the Tennessee state line and GA 20 splits eastward toward Canton (Cherokee County).
Future plans for this interchange are to tie in a brand new 4-lane divided highway with limited access that will extend the US 411/GA 20 4-lane highway to I-75 at GA 20 (Exit 290). This will be known as the "411 Connector". To see the route that the Georgia DOT (GDOT) has apparently chosen as of December 1, 2005, please click here for a detailed aerial map on their website.
The purpose of the "411 Connector", which was originally conceived in 1986 and later became part of the now-defunct "Northern Arc", will be to give both Atlanta and Rome direct high-speed access.
Based on my observations of the proposed route and design, it looks like the "411 Connector" would be up to Interstate standards from the existing US 411 4-lane to I-75. In that case, perhaps GDOT could designate this short stretch as I-375 (similar to either Alabama's I-359 in Tuscaloosa or I-759 in Gadsden).
Furthermore, perhaps GDOT could consider upgrading the existing US 411 4-lane between US 41/GA 3 and US 27/GA 1/53 in Rome to a full-blown Interstate, thus giving Rome it's own Interstate highway similar to Columbus's I-185.
Unlike the proposed I-3 in eastern and northeast Georgia, this highway IMHO is truly needed for giving Rome/Floyd County much better access to Atlanta as GA 316 did with Athens/Clarke County. My only hope, though, is that the developers don't get too greedy along the US 411 corridor, but given their track record and north Georgia's overall growth, I wouldn't bet the farm on it.
That's all for now. Thanks for visiting and please do so often.
1 comment:
My SR 344 page details about the origins of the Cartersville to Rome highway. SR 20 followed what is now SR 293, thus the road was designated U.S. 411/SR 344 up until 1977. I took a few shots of the interchange recently, but have not finished that interchange yet. Perhaps I should add those to the SR 344 page. I always was fascinated with it when we used to go up to Rome quite a bit as a kid.
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