Drivers can expect delays going through construction zone at Mt. Vernon Highway in Sandy Springs

SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. — Construction has begun and lanes are closed as the major road project on Mt. Vernon Highway and Johnsons Ferry Road in Sandy Springs is underway.

Channel 2′s Bryan Mims was live on Channel 2 Action News at 4 p.m. on Mt. Vernon Highway where drivers can expect delays getting through the construction zone.

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The two roads converge to cross Roswell Road and some lane closures have begun on Johnson Ferry.

Each direction on each of the roads will go down to just one lane.

This road project is one of the biggest road improvement projects in Sandy Springs history.

The goal is to relieve the bottleneck in downtown Sandy Springs and add continuous sidewalks on both sides of both of the roads.

Bill Collier lives nearby and is ready to deal with the hassles of construction.

“It’s worth it. Is it worth it? It’s worth it. Yeah, we’ve been living with some traffic around Sandy Springs, which has been getting much worse in the past few years. And I’m glad to see them making progress toward changing some of the roads,” said Collier.

He and other drivers are bracing for more frustration before it gets better.

Closing lanes of traffic on both roads during construction will further bottleneck traffic going east and west, but the project will eventually remove the one-way split and make both roads two lanes going in each direction.

It should also ease congestion for traffic going north and south on Roswell Road.

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Mason King appreciates having more sidewalks along these roads.

“I think when it’s done, it’ll look good. You see people walking their dogs all over the place, and there’s nowhere for them to do it. So hopefully that benefits and makes it easier for everyone to get outside,” said King.

The lane closures will be in place for about six months.

The $15 million project is expected to take up to two years to complete.

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