Atlanta express buses to use shoulders

Express buses running on Georgia 400 in Atlanta will travel along the shoulders of the corridor, bypassing stop-and-roll traffic. Between exits, buses run on the outside shoulder of the road and then merge back into the regular traffic stream at exits and other places when necessary. "The riders get the advantage of using an express lane. The taxpayers get an express bus lane at a fraction of the cost of building such a lane," said Jim Ritchey, acting executive director of the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority (GRTA). The Bus-on-Shoulder System was introduced by the GRTA through its Northern Sub-Area Study/GA 400 Corridor Analysis and the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT). GRTA and GDOT are working together to reinforce where needed the outside shoulders of GA 400 in order to support express buses. The program is part of a series of improvements to GA 400 currently being made by GDOT.