Sweeping change is an understatement when describing what has happened to GA 324 over the past decade. Not only has suburban sprawl dotted the route, but also the once rural intersection where the route ends at GA 20 to the west is now home to the largest mall in the state: Mall of Georgia.

The highway, however, pays much ode to its rural past with its bucolic names such as Gravel Springs Road on the portion north of GA 124, Hog Mountain Road, running between there and Fence Road/Gwinnett C.R. 203 as well as the remainder along Auburn Road. These names suggest that at one time traffic jams were generally due to slow-moving tractors, not red lights.

Located in Gwinnett and Barrow Counties, GA 324 extends for 9.8 miles. The highway also serves roughly as a cutoff from Winder to Buford northeast of Lawrenceville. It also ran along side the projected route of the Outer Perimeter (GA 500), which was canceled in 2003. With plans now to make that right-of-way part of a Gwinnett County thoroughfare, it should be interesting to see if GA 324 takes on a new identity in the process.

The major era of state road building and takeover was underway when GA 324 first came into existance, with the highway joining the list of state routes in 1961. The original GA 324, however, was two-thirds longer than the route of today, extending eastward from the current eastern terminus along then U.S. 29/GA 8 through Auburn before forming a southern alternate route of U.S. 29 through Bethlehem.

This 1993 GDOT map shows the route of GA 324 just prior to being truncated back to Auburn. The western portion in Auburn is shown to demonstrate the proximity of the two sections of the highway. Note how GA 316 will mostly replaces the route (GA 817 is part of 316 under construction).

The map above shows the eastern part of GA 324 and why it no longer exists. Though the highway functioned for years as a reliever for U.S. 29 between Carl and Statham, lessening the maintenance burden for Barrow County, the need for the route was eliminated overall when GA 316 was completed in 1993. As seen here, the road remained state while GA 316 was only partially completed, terminating at GA 11. However, when the new highway was fully opened to U.S. 78/GA 10 in 1993, GA 324 was truncated all the way to Auburn where it ends today. The only part of that highway that remains under state control is the portion from GA 316 north to Statham, which is now part of GA 211.

The eastern portion of GA 324 was located entirely in Barrow County and was 19.2 miles longer than the current route. 2.4 of those miles included the overlap with U.S. 29 (now U.S. 29 Business) in addition to an 0.1 mile overlap with GA 53 west of Statham. This meant that 16.7 miles of state route were eliminated. The eastern portion of the highway also served the towns of Carl, Bethlehem and Statham. The highway also served nearby Fort Yargo State Park. Today, the respective former alignments of the highway go by the names of Carl-Bethlehem Road (C.R. 416) on the portion between U.S. 29 Business and GA 11, Star Street (East and West) within the Bethlehem City Limits, Smith Mill Road (also C.R. 416) from GA 11 to GA 53 and Statham Road (C.R. 417) from GA 53 to Old U.S. 29 in Statham.

What remains of GA 324 is still a two-lane highway, however, and traffic volumes on the route tend to be less than many area routes. The only major work to GA 324 occured after 2000 where part of the route was relocated and reconstructed at the intersection with GA 124 (Braselton Highway). GA 324 also crosses I-85 without an interchange, decreasing its importance as a state route overall. In all, time will tell if GA 324 survives as is, ends up relocated to the proposed Sugarloaf Parkway extension or is decommissioned in future rounds of highway terminations.