Fall Line Freeway

State Route 540 marker
State Route 540
Fall Line Freeway
Map
Fall Line Freeway highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by GDOT
Length215 mi[1] (346 km)
ExistedSeptember 24, 2018[2]–present
History
  • Constituent highways constructed in stages since at least 1919[3]
  • Completed between August 2017 and July 2018[1][4]
  • Signed as SR 540 on September 24, 2018[2]
Component
highways
Major junctions
West end US 80 / SR 8 / SR 22 at the Alabama state line at the Phenix City, Alabama–Columbus line
Major intersections
East end I-520 / US 1 / SR 4 in Augusta
Location
CountryUnited States
StateGeorgia
CountiesMuscogee, Talbot, Taylor, Crawford, Peach, Bibb, Jones, Twiggs, Wilkinson, Baldwin, Washington, Jefferson, Richmond
Highway system
  • Georgia State Highway System
← SR 520→ SR 555

The Fall Line Freeway (FLF), also signed as State Route 540 (SR 540), is a 215-mile-long (346 km) highway designed to span the width of the U.S. state of Georgia from Columbus at the Alabama state line to Augusta, travelling through several cities including Macon, Fort Valley, Sandersville, and Wrens. Though it is called a freeway, it is composed of both limited-access and high-speed divided highway portions. There are also two segments of the highway that are two lanes, separated by a center turn lane: a brief portion in west-central Washington County (west of Sandersville) and another brief portion in northern Jefferson County (completely within the city limits of Wrens). As of August 2018, the Fall Line Freeway is 100% open to traffic.[1] Between August 2017 and July 2018, the highway was completed. The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) announced that the highway was officially signed as SR 540 on September 24, 2018, as the newest state route in the state.

Most of the FLF was a piecing together of segments of pre-existing highways, upon which SR 540 was designated in September 2018. It consists of U.S. Route 80 (US 80) from the Alabama state line to Geneva and from Macon to East Macon; SR 22 from Alabama to Geneva; SR 41 in Geneva; SR 96 from Geneva to the west of Fort Valley; SR 90 from west of Junction City to Junction City; SR 49 Connector (SR 49 Conn.) from west of Fort Valley to Fort Valley; SR 49 from Fort Valley to Byron; Interstate 75 (I-75) from Byron to Macon; I-16 in Macon; SR 87 from Macon to East Macon; US 23/US 129 Alternate (US 129 Alt.) from Macon to East Macon; SR 19 from Macon to East Macon; SR 57 from East Macon to southwest of Gordon; SR 24 from southeast of Milledgeville to east of Sandersville; SR 88 from east of Sandersville to Wrens; US 1/SR 4 from Wrens to Augusta; US 221 in Wrens; and SR 17 in Wrens.

From 2018 to 2019, the highway formerly used the southern portion of SR 243, from southwest of Gordon to north-northeast of Ivey, until that highway was decommissioned. The portion of the highway from north-northeast of Ivey to southeast of Milledgeville was a newly built highway, specifically for this project.

In November 2021, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was enacted, designating the Fall Line Freeway corridor from Columbus to Augusta as the "Middle Georgia Corridor," part of the proposed Interstate 14 Gulf Coast Strategic Highway; however, the route would require substantial upgrades (including several bypasses) to meet interstate highway standards.[5][6]

  1. ^ a b c "Fall Line Freeway" (PDF) (Press release). Georgia Department of Transportation. July 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 25, 2018. Retrieved December 11, 2018.
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference GDOT Facebook was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference GDOT 1920 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference factsheet 2019 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "Congress designates Interstate 14 across five states with I-14 corridor through San Angelo". San Angelo Standard-Times. November 15, 2021. Retrieved December 30, 2021.
  6. ^ Helm, Claire (November 16, 2021). "Rep. Bishop: Infrastructure bill is 'win-win' for Georgians". WGXA. Retrieved December 30, 2021.