Georgia DOT Project PI 713300- DeKalb County Notice of Impacts to Constitution Lakes Park and Bouldercrest Greenspace

The Georgia Department of Transportation (DOT), in coordination with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), proposes to reconstruct the I-285 at Bouldercrest Road interchange and add collector-distributor lanes on new location to provide ramps between I-675 and Bouldercrest Road in DeKalb County. The proposed Bouldercrest Road bridge over I-285 is proposed to be approximately 115 feet wide and would have six, 12-foot-wide travel lanes (two southbound turn lanes and two northbound through lanes), 5-foot, 6-inch sidewalks on both sides, and two, 4-foot-wide bicycle lanes (one in each direction).  The project begins at the existing I-285 /I-675 interchange and ends just west of the I-285 bridge over Sugar Creek.  The total length is approximately 1.9 miles along I-285 and 0.5 mile along Bouldercrest Road.  To construct the project, a portion of both Constitution Lakes Park and Bouldercrest Greenspace would be acquired.

The improvement would require converting approximately 10.37 acres of DeKalb County Recreation, Parks and Cultural Affairs property to transportation right-of-way.  Approximately 5.30 acres of permanent right-of-way would be needed from Constitution Lakes Park and approximately 5.07 acres from the Bouldercrest Greenspace along the edge of both properties adjacent to I-285.  While a change to transportation right-of-way inevitably indicates a loss of park and greenspace acreage, this acquisition translates to roughly 3.7 percent of the total existing acreage from Constitution Lakes Park and approximately 7.9 percent of the total existing acreage from Bouldercrest Greenspace. The loss in acreage is not anticipated to impact the activities, features, or attributes from either park.  Both parks would remain open during construction.

Constitution Lakes Park and the Bouldercrest Greenspace qualify for protection under Section 4(f) of the USDOT Act of 1966 (recodified in 49 U.S.C. 303 and 23 U.S.C. 138). As a result, Georgia DOT offers this notification per 23 CFR 774.5(2)(i) which requires that the public have the opportunity to review and comment before the FHWA can make a de minimis (minor) impact determination under Section 4(f).

Written statements may be submitted to the contact and address below by February 18, 2022.

Mr. Eric Duff, State Environmental Administrator

Attn: Ms. Keisha Jackson

Georgia Department of Transportation

Office of Environmental Services

One Georgia Center, 16^th Floor, 600 W. Peachtree Street, NW

Atlanta, Georgia, 30308