Interstate 475 (Georgia)
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Article ImagesInterstate 475 (I-475) is a 15.83-mile-long (25.48 km) auxiliary Interstate Highway in Georgia, splitting off from I-75/State Route 540 (SR 540) and bypassing Macon. It is also unsigned State Route 408 (SR 408). This is the preferred route for through traffic, as I-75 enters Downtown Macon and reduces to four lanes (two in either direction; undergoing widening), and has a 60-mile-per-hour (97 km/h) speed limit, in addition to the highway interchange with I-16.
Larry Justice Highway | ||||
I-475 highlighted in red | ||||
Route information | ||||
Auxiliary route of I-75 | ||||
Maintained by GDOT | ||||
Length | 15.83 mi[1] (25.48 km) | |||
Existed | 1967[2][3]–present | |||
NHS | Entire route | |||
Major junctions | ||||
South end | I-75 / SR 540 near Macon | |||
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North end | I-75 near Bolingbroke | |||
Location | ||||
Country | United States | |||
State | Georgia | |||
Counties | Bibb, Monroe | |||
Highway system | ||||
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I-475 carries six lanes (three in each direction) throughout its entire route (expanding to eight lanes at both junctions with I-75), except at its northernmost terminus with I-75, where it briefly reduces to four lanes. One rest area can be found along the northbound lanes south of Exit 9 at mile marker 7.7. [4]
The road has also been equipped with traffic cameras, which are a part of the Georgia Navigator system that has been extended via fiber optics all the way from the Atlanta metropolitan area, nearly 100 miles (160 km) to the north-northwest.[5]
The entire length of I-475 is part of the National Highway System, a system of routes determined to be the most important for the nation's economy, mobility, and defense.[6][7]
Built in stages between 1965 and 1967, I-475 was originally built with two lanes in each direction, and a wide median with forest, mostly of sweetgum trees. When the one lane was added in each direction, every bit of the median was paved, with a full-lane-wide shoulder in both directions instead of the narrow ones with two lanes in each direction, and a Jersey barrier designed to prevent head-on collisions, instead of leaving, replanting any trees, other landscaping or native vegetation.
In 1965, the entire length of the highway was under construction;[2] it opened two years later. At the time, I-75 going into Macon was not yet complete. [2][3]
The Bibb County Commission named the highway in honor of former Commission Chair Larry Justice, who retired in 2000.[8]
- ^ "Route Log - Auxiliary Routes of the Eisenhower National System Of Interstate and Defense Highways - Table 2". Federal Highway Administration. Retrieved October 5, 2014.
- ^ a b c State Highway Department of Georgia (January 1966). Official Highway Map (PDF) (Map). Scale not given. Atlanta: State Highway Department of Georgia. Retrieved December 27, 2016.
- ^ a b State Highway Department of Georgia (January 1967). Official Highway Map (PDF) (Map). Scale not given. Atlanta: State Highway Department of Georgia. Retrieved December 27, 2016.
- ^ Rest Areas (Georgia Department of Transportation)
- ^ "13 WMAZ traffic cams". 13 WMAZ. Retrieved May 8, 2022.[dead link]
- ^ National Highway System: Georgia (PDF) (Map). Federal Highway Administration. May 8, 2019. Retrieved August 10, 2019.
- ^ National Highway System: Macon, GA (PDF) (Map). Federal Highway Administration. May 9, 2019. Retrieved August 10, 2019.
- ^ Stucka, Mike (August 14, 2012). "Larry Justice, former Bibb County commission chairman, dead at 74". The Telegraph. Macon, Georgia. Archived from the original on August 17, 2012. Retrieved October 15, 2013.
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