 State Route 500 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outer Perimeter Highway Northern Arc | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained byGDOT | ||||
| Length | 55 mi[citation needed] (89 km) | |||
| History | proposed | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| West end |  I-75 nearCartersville | |||
| Major intersections | ||||
| East end |   I-85 /SR 20 inBuford | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United States | |||
| State | Georgia | |||
| Highway system | ||||
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TheOuter Perimeter is afreeway originally planned to encircleAtlanta, in theU.S. state ofGeorgia about 20 to 25 miles (32 to 40 km) outside ofInterstate 285, which is colloquially referred to asthe Perimeter and is a point of reference for local travel outside Atlanta's city core.
The original plan of the highway was to have roughly gone through or near the communities ofCartersville,Canton,Cumming,Buford,Dacula,Loganville,Conyers,McDonough,Hampton,Newnan,Peachtree City,Villa Rica, andDallas. The roadway was to have roughly paralleledState Route 20, which goes around three sides of Atlanta.
A later incarnation of the highway only encompassed what was termed theNorthern Arc and included the portion of the original planned highway fromInterstate 75 near Cartersville across toInterstate 85 near theMall of Georgia in Buford. One proposal tied to this version would have reportedly limited exits to five majorinterchanges, at the freeways that crossed it: I-75;I-575; US 19/Georgia State Route 400;Interstate 985; and I-85.
The Northern Arc was to have been atoll road under another proposal, which advocates say would have kept most local traffic away from the highway, while freeing it for trucks. Opponents said that despite the toll, the road would have encouraged additional development and congestion, creating the continuedurban sprawl that, at times, threatens to overwhelm areas much closer to Atlanta-proper.
The highway has been officially designatedGeorgia State Route 500. Advocates of the highway touted its use by long-distance truck drivers to have them completely avoid the congestion of the highways much closer to Atlanta.
The original Perimeter, I-285, which was originally planned as abypass of the city and was completed in 1969, has in effect become one of the main freeway routes for both local traffic and traffic passing through the Atlanta area.[1]
Budgetary constraints, political pressure, and public opposition supposedly killed plans for both incarnations of the road. However, the Northern Arc resurfaced in February 2007, with suggestions that it be placed further north, out of the current path ofexurbanland development.[citation needed]
In 2015, SR 20 started to get widened, starting with a new bridge over theChattahoochee River, to alleviate traffic congestion. The route will closely resemble the original Northern Arc path and the plan will essentially be the Northern Arc replacement.[2]
Quietly in October 2017, the northeasternmost side of the Northern Arc is finally scheduled to be in place.[3] However as of 2021 there have been no updates and the date of construction remains unknown.
Planned to be a toll road from I-85 toSR 316, labeled as theSugarloaf Parkway Extension, Phase II, one can clearly see the routing. It follows, at least in Gwinnett County, the start of a portion of the outer Atlanta freeway loop. Reading through the information, where the last phase ends atPeachtree Industrial Boulevard, it shows a partial (unfinished) interchange which indicates one day, in the future, the route could continue westward.[4]
