ATL Board awards $6.7M mass transit design project to Sandy Springs company

ATLANTA — A Sandy Springs engineering firm won a nearly $7 million contract to design new express lanes at the Top End of Interstate 285.

The contract, which is signed for a two-year period, gives between $6.7 million to $7.5 million in the hands of CDM Smith to plan and design an expansion to mass transit options above the Atlanta area and across the perimeter.

The Atlanta-Region Transit Link Authority Board approved the contract Thursday.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

According to the board presentation given at Thursday’s meeting, the contract approval is the culmination of an earlier project plan.

In early 2022, the board, alongside the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, Cobb County, Fulton County, Gwinnett County, the Georgia Department of Transportation, and the Atlanta Regional Commission, entered into an agreement to procure, contract, and manage a project to create a Top End Express Lanes Transit Planning Project for I-285.

The board presentation said project partners include the above governments and agencies, as well as the cities of Atlanta, Brookhaven, Chamblee, Clarkston, Doraville, Dunwoody, Sandy Springs, Smyrna, and Tucker.

TRENDING STORIES:

• Mariah Carey sells metro Atlanta mansion for $655K less than what she paid for it
• 14-year-old Gwinnett County girl takes final exams, then vanishes
• Candlelight vigil to be held tonight for influencer shot to death in “ambush” in Buckhead

As proposed by the board, CDM Smith will plan and design two new barrier-separated express toll lanes in each direction of I-285, in order to provide more reliable trip times for private vehicles, as well as transit and vanpool vehicles.

The express lanes, according to the presentation, will be designed, constructed, financed, operated, and maintained by a private sector partner.

CDM Smith’s design will be used to build the lanes to run from one end of I-20 to the other across the top of the Atlanta perimeter.

The resulting agreement became a Memorandum of Understanding and opened the bidding process for prospective designers to win the project. CDM Smith is that winner.

ExpandAutoplay

Image 1 of 11

I-285 TOP END PROPOSAL PLANS

When the MOU was first signed, officials said the project is intended to address the lack of transit options on I-285 and provide ways to integrate the expansion best for transit stations. Speaking with Channel 2 Action News in May 2022, Chris Tomlinson, the executive director of the ATL, said the express lanes would be free for public transit, though still cost private drivers.

Beginning July 1, CDM Smith will enter a contract with the Atlanta-Region Transit Link Authority to plan for and design the transit project, and provision the services needed to complete the plan.

The contract award was set at $6.7 million, though depending on the process, could become as much as $7.5 million, which is the explicit cost cap for the project, according to documents from the ATL.

When complete, GDOT expects the transit line to open in 2028 in DeKalb County, and 2032 for Fulton and Cobb counties, according to ATL.

[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]

OTHER NEWS:

WATCH: Rockdale County deputies save the life of 82-year-old man suffering from cardiac arrest

©2022 Cox Media Group