Pitts Road Bridge over SR 400 to close for about a year

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Driving through Sandy Springs, you might have seen a lot of orange cones lately. Starting Monday, Pitts Road Bridge over Georgia 400, will be closed for about a year.

This construction is a part of the Georgia Department of Transportation’s (GDOT) SR 400 Bridge Replacement Project. Officials said the closure begins at the intersection of Pitts Road and Colquitt Road at the intersection of Pitts Road and Stratford Lane.

“It’s part of a wider GDOT project to replace and repair a couple of bridges along the GA 400 corridor,” said Andrew Allison, Director of Communications for the City of Sandy Springs. “This is to expand GA 400 to accommodate for express lanes in the future,” he said.

According to GDOT, they are replacing three bridges over SR 400. Pitts Road is one of the bridges, along with Roberts Drive, and Kimball Bridge Road bridges, which are over five decades old.

While the bridge is out, drivers are urged to use GDOT’s detour, which is North Ridge Drive.

“For those of you who don’t want to do the north ridge detour, is a bit too much in the construction zone, you can stay out of that by using Abernathy Road, which is just a bit further south,” Allison said.

“I mean there’s already a lot of traffic on Roswell Road and Abernathy and both of them are pretty residential, so when you’re out walking and there’s all this traffic and people going really fast you think about it a lot,” said a woman who lives in the area. “So yeah, I think it’s going to increase the traffic,” she said.

Officials said the project will birth pedestrian safety improvements.

“Once the project is done, it’s going to bring a lot of aesthetic improvements to the bridge,” Allison said. “There’s going to be a multi-use path put In there. A wider sidewalk and pedestrian safety improvements. So, it’s going to be a better experience for both the drivers and the pedestrians, but everything is going to be really well marked ahead of time by GADOT as far as the detour route goes,” he said.

“I think the enhancements are great cause I walk a lot and the thing about this area, a lot of the sidewalks are old and they’re very narrow. So, I’m up for making the sidewalks wider and better ‘cause I’m a walker,” a woman said. “I think it is a good thing. Infrastructure in Atlanta needs to be repaired in general. It’s an old city with a lot of old infrastructure,” she added.

Leaders said they will keep an eye on traffic.

“We’re going to work really closely with GDOT and with Dunwoody and other stakeholders to monitor the traffic along the detour routes,” Allison said. “So, if that means adjusting the traffic signals to accommodate that, that’s something we can do,” he said.

One man who crosses the bridge every day said no matter the time it may take, he believes this could be a win.

“There’s a lot of traffic that comes through this side. So, the bridge is closed, I’m sure is going to be a real inconvenience for some, but I’m sure there’s going to be alternative routes that people are now going to be taking to the other side of Roswell,” said Emeka Uchegbu exercises across the bridge.

“I’m sure it’s for a good cause, so I mean we’ll have to endure what’s going on until everything gets situated,” Uchegbu added.

“Traffic is going to be inevitable, so I just recommend that folks plan ahead of time, plan a little bit of extra time to get to where you’re going,” Allison said.

Click here, to learn more about the projects and alternate routes.

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