Transportation and Roads
Gwinnett County’s excellent transportation network is the foundation for its thriving business environment.
Transportation projects in the county’s Capital Improvement Program budget total more than $609 million over the next four years.
Gwinnett County is implementing numerous projects to both enhance the commuting experience of residents and employees and provide businesses the means to move their goods anywhere in the world.
Gwinnett’s road system is well maintained and continually upgraded.
Future plans call for several new major connectors, including an intra-county loop highway.
In 2006 the state began plans to rebuild the Gwinnett County interchange at GA 316 and I-85 in an ambitious $147 million undertaking.
Air
More than 80 percent of the continental U.S. population is within a two-hour flight of Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, which provides direct service to more than 150 American cities and 30 foreign destinations in 17 countries on most major airlines.
Hartsfield-Jackson has also become a leading air cargo center, with more than 767,000 tons of cargo handled annually.
While Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is a short 40 miles from Gwinnett, one of Georgia’s five busiest airports operates within the county.
Briscoe Field offers a 6,021-foot runway, an instrument landing system, and a fully-equipped control tower (staffed from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., seven days per week) to handle general aviation and corporate jet traffic, resulting in approximately 108,500 annual operations. Two fixed base operators provide a full range of aviation-related services.
Transit
The Gwinnett Transit System is providing alternative transportation with luxurious buses while reducing traffic on the county’s roadways. Six express bus routes currently operate from park-and-ride lots located in key areas of the county into downtown Atlanta, while another five routes connect neighborhoods and business centers within Gwinnett County.
Along with ride-sharing and the Commuter Connection Program, this system is part of the Comprehensive Transportation Plan, a 20-year strategy to develop a safe and efficient multi-modal transportation system to serve the county’s needs. Gwinnett County Transit has more than tripled its ridership from 1,620 in 2002 to 5,300 in 2004
Rail
Norfolk Southern and CSX Transportation provide Gwinnett County with rail connections all over the continent.
The two railroads operate close to 140 daily trains through the Atlanta area from points throughout the Eastern Seaboard. Community leaders hope that a proposed $160 million passenger train will become a reality in the near future, running 68 miles from Atlanta to Athens via Lilburn, Lawrenceville and Dacula.
Ports
The interstate highways offer direct access to the port cities of Savannah and Brunswick, Ga., as well as Charleston, S.C., providing deepwater ports equipped to handle any business shipping need.
