Work Begins on Atlanta Area’s $4.6B Highway 400 Tolled Express Lanes Project
The future variable-rate toll lanes and other improvements are expected to reduce congestion on the busy corridor.
machineryasia 
Crews have officially broken ground on the Georgia Department of Transportation’s $4.6 billion State Route 400 Express Lanes project, beginning a five-year schedule that will upgrade a 16-mile corridor near Atlanta.
Construction officially began earlier this month, according to CBS News. A February fact sheet from GDOT previously forecast that heavy construction would begin in Spring 2026 and that the new express lanes would open in 2031.
The project will add new express lanes in both directions from McGinnis Ferry Road in Fulton County and McFarland Parkway in Forsyth County. By paying the new lanes’ variable-priced tolls — meaning prices will adjust with traffic levels — drivers will be able to bypass congestion, GDOT says.
A bus rapid-transit system will be added to the project corridor with rider access to the new express lanes at several points. Expected benefits from the 400 Express Lanes Project include 19,000 hours in reduced delays per day and enhanced public safety via new bridges and general improvements.
Funded through a public-private partnership, the project’s contractor, SR 400 Peach Partners, will make a concession payment of $4.05 billion to the state; design, build, finance and operate the project; and collect all generated toll revenue. SR 400 Peach Partners estimated a total construction cost of $4.6 billion.
Members of the SR 400 Peach Partners group include ACS Infrastructure, Meridiam, Acciona Concesiones, Acciona Construction, Dragados and Parsons.
The SR 400 Express Lanes project also received a record-breaking loan from the U.S. Department of Transportation in August 2025 of up to $3.89 billion, the single largest loan in USDOT’s history. That loan builds on USDOT’s previously allocated $3.4 billion in Private Activity Bonds for this project for a total investment of $7.5 billion.
