Dive Brief:
- Crews will begin major construction activities in April on Georgia’s $4.6 billion State Route 400 Express Lanes project, a 16-mile corridor north of Atlanta, according to a Georgia DOT update sent to Construction Dive.
- The project will ultimately add tolled express lanes along State Route 400 from the North Springs Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority Station to just north of McFarland Parkway to manage traffic congestion in Fulton and Forsyth counties, according to a project fact sheet.
- The Georgia DOT selected SR400 Peach Partners, a consortium of Acciona Concessions, ACS Infrastructure and Meridiam, to deliver and maintain the project under a 56-year public-private partnership.
Dive Insight:
SR400 Peach Partners will design, build, finance and operate the corridor. The three-party consortium tapped a joint venture of Atlanta-based FlatironDragados and Madrid-based Acciona Construction to handle design and construction, according to a statement sent to Construction Dive from the Georgia DOT.
States are turning to public-private partnerships to fund expensive infrastructure development. Ferrovial, the Amsterdam-headquartered civil engineering firm, recently won P3 work in Texas, Virginia and North Carolina, said Silvia Ruiz, global head of investor relations. Georgia DOT expects the P3 model to reduce required funding and expedite delivery.
Infrastructure work, particularly highways and bridges, continues to drive overall construction growth in the U.S., even as other nonresidential sectors face wobbly demand.
For example, highway and bridge construction starts surged more than 85.2% month to month in December, according to Dodge Construction Network. Momentum in the sector slipped to kick off 2026, though still remains positive compared to the same period last year, according to Dodge’s groundbreaking data.
On the SR400 site, crews restarted tree clearing on March 3, following earlier site preparation efforts that began in 2025. Work currently underway includes equipment mobilization and the establishment of work zones.
Heavy construction will ramp up this spring, according to the Georgia DOT. Teams will begin with bridge work and interchange upgrades across multiple segments of the 16-mile corridor. Work will occur both during the day and overnight to minimize disruptions, according to the Georgia DOT.
The construction team expects the new express lanes to open in 2031, according to the update.
