For almost all of its length, I-575 has two lanes in each direction, with a road median of grass, along with crape myrtle (a locally-common landscaping tree) or wildflowers, both of which are summer-flowering.
It also crosses Noonday Creek between Barrett Parkway and Chastain Road at the northeast corner of Town Center at Cobb regional mall.
That stream roughly follows the freeway northward on the east side of the road, passing alongside the northbound ramp to SR 92 and then crossing back under to the northwest just before Towne Lake Parkway.
This left two dead-end streets: Hiram Way in Holly Springs and Travis Tritt Lane in Canton.
[3] I-575 was mostly constructed as a suburban spur highway, intended to serve an undeveloped area for future settlement, rather than as one to relieve traffic or to link I-75 to an existing city or large town (On the other hand, I-985 was built as a link between I-85 and the preexisting city of Gainesville.)
It has since accelerated land development and population growth in the area far beyond what the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) predicted, essentially causing its own traffic.
The final portion of I-575 to past Howell Bridge Road and SR 372 opened later, and that extended the highway to its present length of 31 miles (50 km), although the northernmost mile (1.6 km) given in this length was not constructed up to Interstate Highway standards since it extends past a surface (at-grade) intersection.
This final portion north of Canton was constructed of concrete rather than asphalt, and narrow black lines run on either side of the white lane markings.
In February 2006, GDOT let two bids to add auxiliary lanes in both directions on the road shoulder, in between two pairs of short-spaced exits.
On the opposite side, it required a noise barrier wall north of Dupree Road because of its proximity to existing homes.
I-575 is now cosigned throughout its length with SR 5, which was completely removed from its former alignment in 1985–1986 over a nearly 70-mile (110 km) stretch from Marietta all the way to north of Ellijay—far beyond the I-575 terminal point.
SR 205 was also deleted when I-575 opened in Cherokee County in 1985, returning what is now the northernmost part of Bells Ferry Road to local responsibility.
SR 205 has yet to be removed from Google Maps as of 2022[update] and is still shown on the northern end of Bells Ferry Road.
The current east–west connection through downtown is restricted to two lanes since recent development was allowed that blocked one-way Mill Street from being extended eastward (which would have allowed Arnold Mill Road/Towne Lake Parkway to carry only westbound traffic through downtown).
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) officials had earlier rejected the plan due to its proximity to two other exits.