Week of nightly Ga. 400 lane closures to hit Forsyth commuters

Forsyth County commuters on Ga. 400 faced a week of overnight lane closures that narrowed one of the region’s busiest routes just as evening traffic, airport runs and late errands were getting underway. The work ran from Monday, June 15 through Friday, June 19, from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., as crews kept building the SR 400 Express Lanes corridor linking Sandy Springs to the Forsyth line.

The tightest squeeze came south of the county line. Crews closed one right lane nightly on Ga. 400 southbound from Spalding Drive to Abernathy Road, with two southbound lanes shut from Holcomb Bridge Road to Abernathy Road. Northbound drivers also lost one left lane and one right lane from Abernathy Road to Spalding Drive. Anyone moving between Cumming, south Forsyth and the Atlanta edge of the corridor had to budget extra time and expect slower travel through the overnight construction window.

GDOT says the express lanes project is designed to reduce congestion, improve travel-time reliability and enhance mobility on one of Georgia’s busiest commuter corridors. The project covers about 16 centerline miles and will add two express lanes in each direction between the North Springs MARTA Station area near Exit 5C in Fulton County and McGinnis Ferry Road, then one express lane in each direction from McGinnis Ferry Road to just north of McFarland Parkway in Forsyth County. The new lanes are also planned to connect directly to the future I-285 Top End Express Lanes corridor.

That matters for Forsyth not just because of through-traffic, but because of how closely the project reaches local access points near the county line. Traffic leaving north Fulton neighborhoods and heading toward McFarland Parkway, McGinnis Ferry Road and the Cumming side of the corridor could feel the spillover, especially when overnight work pushes drivers onto already busy local roads.

GDOT and the State Road and Tollway Authority executed the project agreement on Nov. 13, 2024, and construction was formally marked at a groundbreaking in Alpharetta on April 22, 2026. Recent project materials place the cost at about $4.6 billion. GDOT also says bridge work on Pitts Road, Roberts Drive and Kimball Bridge Road was moved forward as part of the first phase to make room for the future express lanes.

Drivers were urged to check Georgia 511 for real-time changes, since schedules can shift with weather. For commuters living along the Ga. 400 corridor, the overnight closures were another reminder that the highway is still a live construction zone even as the region waits for the long-term congestion relief the project promises.