Roswell commuters heading south on GA-400 are getting caught in unexpected morning backups as contractors building the new Peach Pass Express Lanes repeatedly leave lane closures in place past the standard 6 a.m. weekday cutoff.

The 16-mile, billion-dollar express lane project stretches from Sandy Springs to Cumming, running directly through Roswell's primary freeway corridor. Exit 7 at Holcomb Bridge Road, the city's busiest interchange with more than 70,000 vehicles per day, sits squarely in the construction zone.

GDOT spokesperson Natalie Dale told 11Alive that equipment failures, particularly paving machines, are the biggest culprit.

"This has an immediate impact on the paving operation and subsequent activities, such as striping and removal of traffic control devices," Dale said.

Asphalt supply problems at plants and weather are also to blame, Dale said. When a paver breaks down mid-job, crews cannot simply reopen lanes with unfinished surfaces.

In the two weeks before Aug. 16, crews overstayed the cutoff on at least three occasions on metro Atlanta freeways. On July 14, a crew on I-285 northbound between Cascade Road and MLK Junior Drive kept weekend work in two right lanes until 7:30 a.m., more than 25 hours past the scheduled reopening, because the road surface had a hole and was not safe for traffic.

Fines exist, but amounts stay hidden

GDOT contracts include fine clauses for damages caused by lane-closure overages, according to the 11Alive report. The specific dollar amounts are not public.

Dale said the agency conducts a "deep dive" after each overrun to identify what went wrong.

Communication gap leaves drivers in the dark

11Alive traffic reporter Doug Turnbull, who covers metro Atlanta construction daily, identified a breakdown in how closures get communicated to drivers. Road crews sometimes begin or extend work without notifying operators at GDOT's 511 Traffic Management Center.

"We often notice a crew staying out late (or even beginning their work) without notifying TMC operators," Turnbull wrote in his Aug. 16 column. "And there could be more pressure put on the supervisors of those crews to communicate and clear out on time."

That gap means drivers checking 511ga.org or the 511 phone line may not see accurate closure information during the worst of the delays.

What Roswell drivers should know

GA-400 southbound is already reliably congested from Exit 9 at Mansell Road through Sandy Springs during the 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. peak, according to Roswell Pulse traffic data. Any lane closure bleeding past 6 a.m. compounds that existing bottleneck.

Contractor Peach State Partners has been running overnight construction between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m., with tree clearing on six sections of SR 400 resuming in early August.

Drivers can check real-time GA-400 conditions at 511ga.org or by calling 511 before leaving home. Tree clearing and paving work on the Roswell-area segment of the project are expected to continue through the fall.