Colloquially referred to as the Perimeter, it also carries unsigned State Route 407 (SR 407) and is signed as Atlanta Bypass on I-20, I-75, and I-85.

Because of suburban sprawl, it is estimated that more than two million people use the highway each day, making it one of the busiest Interstates in the Atlanta metropolitan area, and one of the most heavily traveled roadways in the US.

Exits are numbered clockwise, starting at the southwesternmost point at I-85 and ending just east of there where it meets I-85 again near Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Between I-85 and I-20 in southwest Fulton County, I-285 is designated as the Bob A. Holmes Freeway (named after the member of the Georgia House of Representative), where I-285 heads north, and has an interchange with the Langford Parkway.

Between I-20 in northwest Atlanta and I-75 near Cumberland Mall, it is designated as the James E. 'Billy' McKinney Highway (named after the member of the Georgia House of Representatives) as it continues north and starts to curve to the east just west of the I-75 interchange.

Computer animations were developed prior to construction to simulate a jumbo jet touching down on the runway from a driver's perspective.

There have been 153 closed-circuit television traffic cameras, 26 electronic-message signs, and traffic-detection sensors installed in phases between 1999 and 2010 by the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT).

People distinguish a location as being inside or outside the Perimeter, sometimes abbreviated as ITP and OTP, a recent local neologism.

At the time, much of the area through which the freeway now passes was still rural, but beginning to suburbanize, and the Interstate was initially intended to serve as a bypass of the city.

[7] Work on widening the stretch on the west side between I-85 and Paces Ferry Road began in September 1981 and was completed in August 1983.

The first project, which took place in the late 1970s, constructed new mainline carriageways for I-285 traffic through the interchange, eliminating lefthand exits, and repurposed the original lanes into adjacent collector–distributor ramps.

The approximately 1.6-mile (2.6 km) stretch of I-285 that runs concurrent with I-85 was heavily modified in multiple projects between the early and late 1980s that included the construction of separate adjacent carriageways for I-85 and I-285 in an effort to eliminate weaving and the addition of several collector–distributor ramps serving other roads.

The state will instead widen portions of SR 20 north of the Atlanta metropolitan area, along a similar alignment to the Northern Arc.

[21][needs update] In January 2016, Governor Nathan Deal announced the major mobility investment program (MMIP), a collection of megaprojects planned around the state.

He was unable to find the proper exit and circled the city several times before running out of gas and calling for help.

When Pérez failed to arrive at the stadium by game time, the Braves called upon veteran pitcher Phil Niekro to make the emergency start.

The Braves, who had been mired in a 2–19 slump, won the game,[31] kicking off a 13–2 winning streak that carried the team to the National League West division title.

[33] Atlanta rapper Playboi Carti mentioned the interstate in his single "Stop Breathing", on his second studio album, Whole Lotta Red