Gwinnett Daily Post

LAWRENCEVILLE - Residents can comment this week on a project that could clear traffic in Suwanee.

Officials have preliminary approval for a 1.6-mile extension of McGinnis Ferry Road from its current end at Satellite Boulevard across Interstate 85 to Lawrenceville-Suwanee Road.

The project, which will cost the county about $17 million for land acquisition and about $30 million in state and federal funds for construction, is slated to begin early next year.

"It'll be a great reliever of the Lawrenceville-Suwanee interchange," said Gwinnett Transportation Deputy Director Alan Chapman, explaining that the extension will not produce another I-85 interchange but will be built to accommodate entrance ramps in the future.

Just last week, officials held a hearing on another stretch of McGinnis Ferry Road. That construction project would widen the bridge over the Chattahoochee River to match four-lane roads in Gwinnett, Fulton and Forsyth counties.

The three counties are working together on the project, expected to cost about $8.5 million in federal funds, Chapman said.

To view the plans for the extension, the public can attend a hearing from 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday at Peachtree Road Baptist Church at 142 Old Peachtree Road in Suwanee.