The Downtown Connector, also known locally as 75/85, is a major thoroughfare through downtown Atlanta, Georgia, where Interstate 75 and Interstate 85 run concurrently.
It runs from the Brookwood Interchange, also known as the Brookwood Split, in the Brookwood neighborhood on the northern end to the I-85/Langford Parkway interchange on the south side. It extends roughly 7.5 miles through the city, intersecting with Interstate 20.
It includes notable segments such as the Grady Curve, named for the nearby Grady Memorial Hospital. It is frequently mentioned in Atlanta traffic reports.
Despite being officially named the James Wendell George Parkway for most of its length since the 2000s, the stretch is commonly called the Downtown Connector. It also carries the unsigned state route designations State Route 401 for I-75 and State Route 403 for I-85, following Georgia’s convention of assigning 400-series numbers to interstates.
On December 14, 1944, the Georgia State Highway Department, the city of Atlanta, Fulton County and the Bureau of Public Roads kicked off a plan to improve traffic and connectivity in Atlanta. Transportation engineering firm H.W. Lochner & Company was commissioned to develop a regional plan.
The resulting report, released on January 10, 1946, proposed constructing six expressways, including a central route through downtown, which became known as the Downtown Connector.
Construction began in September 1948, with the first section between Williams Street and the Brookwood Interchange opening on September 25, 1951. Subsequent sections, including Piedmont Avenue to Williams Street in 1959 and University Avenue to Richardson Street in 1957, were completed over the next decade.
The final stretch, which includes the interchange with I-20, opened after an October 15, 1964, ribbon-cutting that Governor Carl Sanders attended.
The Downtown Connector’s construction displaced parts of Techwood Drive and Williams Street and disrupted the street grid in the Sweet Auburn and Washington-Rawson neighborhoods.
A proposed extension, Interstate 485, was largely canceled in the 1970s. However, the portions of the plan eventually became Interstate 675 and State Route 400.
