Georgia State Route 20 - Route Description

Route Description

From the Alabama state line, SR 20 proceeds east into the city of Rome. The highway leaves Rome on the other side concurrent with US 411 until just north of Cartersville (US 41 briefly joins the concurrency near Cartersville as well), after which SR 20 continues eastward on its own. SR 20 serves such distant northern suburbs of Atlanta as Canton, Cumming, and Buford, crossing Interstates 75, 575, and 985 as well as SR 400. The road turns southeast after SR 400 and then south after I-985, crossing I-85 shortly thereafter. The road also has easy but congested access to SR 316, leading to Athens.

SR 20 continues southward through Lawrenceville and Loganville before meeting I-20 in Conyers. Likely to help alleviate driver confusion due to two identically-numbered highways meeting, the highway is usually referred to at this point as SR 138, with which it runs concurrent through Conyers. SR 20 continues south and then southwest to the Henry County seat of McDonough, where it briefly runs concurrent with SR 81. SR 81 departs to the north after crossing I-75 at exit 218. The portion of SR 20 between the western end of the SR 81 concurrency and US 19/US 41 has recently been widened from two lanes to four, including a new southern bypass of the city of Hampton and more controlled access at US 19/US 41. The primary purpose of the widening is to facilitate the flow of traffic to and from the Atlanta Motor Speedway located near the highway's western terminus.