Hospitality Century: GA 400 closes for bikers Sunday
Published: Jun 29, 2009
Cars usually choke Georgia 400, but for a brief period on Sunday morning, July 12, bicycles will take over.
A 2.5-mile section of Georgia 400, one of metro Atlanta’s busiest thoroughfares, will close early Sunday morning for the first Hospitality Highway Century, a bicycle ride of up to 100 miles benefiting the Georgia Transplant Foundation. Bicyclists call a 100-mile ride a century and completing one is a badge of pride.
Only registered riders, ready to go at 6:30 a.m., will get the rare privilege of pedaling on Georgia 400, officially known as the Hospitality Highway. They'll ride about 2.5 miles from Holcomb Bridge Road, exit 7, to Northridge Road, exit 5, of Georgia 400, and then pedal through Sandy Springs, Milton, Roswell, Johns Creek, Alpharetta and other scenic areas of North Fulton. For less stalwart pedalers, there are 64-mile, 35-mile and a 6-mile ““I Did It” ride.
The ride is open to cyclists 14 years of age or older. The entry fee to the ride includes access to rest stops stocked with water and snacks, on-road technical support, route maps and a ride T-shirt.
The Georgia Department of Transportation will close the 2.5-mile section of southbound Georgia 400 from Holcomb Bridge to Northridge from 6:30 a.m. until 7 a.m. David Spear, spokesman for the Georgia Department of Transportation, said traffic is normally extremely light early Sunday morning, and motorized vehicles will be detoured.
“It won’t be that disruptive that early on a Sunday,” said Spear.
Self-professed Georgia Road Geek Steve Williams says it's very rare for bicyclists or pedestrians to "get to travel any portion of existing limited-access highway within Georgia, since such highways do not normally allow any non-vehicular traffic, i.e. bicycles and pedestrians."
"Usually, states would allow pedestrians and/or bicycles to walk on such a road in cases where it is a newly completed stretch," says Williams, who runs the Georgia Road Geek website and blogs about roads, highways and general "roadgeeking." "For example, in 1993, the state let pedestrians and bicycles on the newly completed GA 400 tollway for a day just before officially opening it to normal vehicular traffic.
David Bakelman, executive director of the Georgia Transplant Foundation, said, "Funds raised through the Hospitality Highway Century will help us provide essential services to Georgia’s organ transplant community."
The official name for Georgia Highway 400 is the Hospitality Highway. The Southeast Tourism Society (STS) named the highway its Shining Example Award for the Travel Attraction of the Year.
Founded in Atlanta in 1992, the Georgia Transplant Foundation is a non-profit organization providing financial, educational and emotional support to transplant candidates, recipients, living donors and their families throughout the state of Georgia. The foundation is funded through the Carlos and Marguerite Mason Trust, corporations and individuals. Eighty-four percent of all funds raised directly supports Georgia’s organ transplant community.
- by Diane Loupe, Atlanta Reporter for HelloMetro
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