   Stone Mountain Freeway | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bill Evans Highway | ||||
 | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained byGDOT | ||||
| Length | 10.1 mi[1] (16.3 km) | |||
| Existed | 1970[2][3]–present | |||
| Component highways |
| |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| West end |    US 29 /US 78 /SR 8 on theScottdale–North Decatur line | |||
| Major intersections |  I-285 on the Scottdale–Clarkston city line | |||
| East end |  US 78 /SR 10 northeast ofStone Mountain Park | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United States | |||
| State | Georgia | |||
| Counties | DeKalb,Gwinnett | |||
| Highway system | ||||
| ||||
| ||||
Stone Mountain Freeway is afreeway in the north-central part of the U.S. state ofGeorgia. It connectsInterstate 285 (I-285) east ofAtlanta, with thesuburbs ofStone Mountain andSnellville before transitioning into anarterial road that continues toAthens. The freeway is signed asU.S. Route 78 (US 78) for its entire length, with the western half signed asState Route 410 (SR 410), and the eastern half also being signed asSR 10. It begins at theUS 29/US 78 split northeast ofDecatur, and continues east through easternDeKalb and southernGwinnett counties. The portion of Stone Mountain Freeway from I-285 to the Dekalb/Gwinnett county line is alternatively designated asBill Evans Highway.
Stone Mountain Freeway begins at aninterchange withUS 29/SR 8 (Lawrenceville Highway) on theScottdale–North Decatur city line, withinDeKalb County. There is no access to US 29/SR 8 north from Stone Mountain Freeway or to Stone Mountain Freeway from US 29/SR 8 south. Both can only be accessed via North Druid Hills Road. Southwest of this interchange, US 29/US 78/SR 8 head towardDecatur. Stone Mountain Freeway travels to the northeast,concurrent with US 78 and SR 410. The concurrency has a partial interchange with Valley Brook Road and North Druid Hills Road. Just before leaving Scottdale is an interchange withInterstate 285 (I-285). Part of this interchange is within thecity limits ofClarkston. The two highways travel to the north ofClarkston and enterTucker. They have an interchange with Brockett Road and Cooledge Road, and then one more with Mountain Industrial Boulevard. After leaving Tucker, they have an interchange withSR 10 (Memorial Drive). At this interchange, SR 410 meets its eastern terminus, and SR 10 begins a concurrency with US 78 and Stone Mountain Freeway. They have an interchange with the former eastern terminus ofSR 236 until 2024 (Hugh Howell Road), which travels back towards Tucker. A little bit later is an access road toStone Mountain Park's main entrance. Right after the park, the highways enter Gwinnett County and have a partial interchange with Park Place Boulevard and Rockbridge Road. Just to the east of this interchange, the freeway ends and US 78/SR 10 continue to the east, locally known as Stone Mountain Highway.[1]
West of Exit 1, thespeed limit is 55 miles per hour (89 km/h). East of the interchange with North Druid Hills Road, the limit rises to 65 miles per hour (105 km/h).[citation needed] Unlike Georgia'sInterstate highways, the highway still has actual sequential exit numbers, rather than being mileage-based.[citation needed] There is no exit 6, which makes the exit numbering non-sequential; the former Exit 6 was the back entrance toStone Mountain Park via Old Hugh Howell Road, previously open for major events only.
All of Stone Mountain Freeway is included as part of theNational Highway System, a system of roadways important to the nation's economy, defense, and mobility.[4]
Stone Mountain Freeway was under construction in 1967 along the same alignment as it travels today.[5][6] By 1970, the highway was completed.[2][3]
The Stone Mountain Freeway shares state route number 10 withFreedom Parkway, a 2-mile-long (3.2 km) road in central Atlanta that connects with theInterstate Highway System at a major interchange onI-75/I-85 (theDowntown Connector). As that designation suggests, state officials originally intended the Stone Mountain Freeway to continue west,[clarification needed] throughDecatur,Druid Hills, andCandler Park, todowntown Atlanta. In pursuit of those plans, in 1969, theGDOT purchased an X-shaped swath of land designed to carry two roads:I-485, traveling from west to east, and another freeway connecting what are nowSR 400 to the north andI-675 to the south.[citation needed]
Neighborhood groups and localpreservationists worked together to blockroad construction of the highways. After 20 years oflitigation and political maneuvering, community groups and state and local officials in 1991compromised and set much of the state-purchasedright-of-way aside as parkland, later namedFreedom Park. The land proposed as the interchange of the two cancelled highways, by then, had become the site of theCarter Center.
Freedom Parkway – the last vestige of the planned downtown link of the Stone Mountain Freeway – opened in 1994.[7]
| County | Location | mi[1] | km | Exit | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DeKalb | Scottdale–North Decatur line | 0.0 | 0.0 |     US 29 south /US 78 west /SR 8 west (Lawrenceville Highway) /SR 410 begins –Decatur,Atlanta | Western end of US 78 and SR 410 concurrencies; western terminus of SR 410 and Stone Mountain Freeway; no access to or from US 29 north / SR 8 east | |
| Scottdale | 0.5 | 0.80 | 1 | Valley Brook Road / North Druid Hills Road | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance | |
| Scottdale–Clarkston line | 1.0 | 1.6 | 2 | I-285 (Atlanta Bypass /SR 407) –Greenville,Chattanooga,Augusta,Macon | I-285 exit 39 | |
| Tucker | 2.5 | 4.0 | 3 | Brockett Road / Cooledge Road | ||
| 4.6 | 7.4 | 4 | Mountain Industrial Boulevard | |||
| | 6.8 | 10.9 | 5 |  SR 10 west (Memorial Drive) /SR 410 ends –Stone Mountain | Western end of SR 10 concurrency; eastern end of SR 410 concurrency; eastern terminus of SR 410 | |
| | 8.2 | 13.2 | 7 | Hugh Howell Road –Tucker | Former terminus of SR 236 | |
| | 9.0 | 14.5 | 8 | Stone Mountain Park main entrance | ||
| Gwinnett | Mountain Park | 10.1 | 16.3 | 9 | Park Place Boulevard / Rockbridge Road | |
 US 78 east /SR 10 east (Stone Mountain Highway) –Snellville,Athens | Eastern end of US 78 and SR 10 concurrencies; eastern terminus of Stone Mountain Freeway; continuation east | |||||
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
| ||||||
