Georgia's State Road and Tollway Authority has awarded a multi-million dollar account to Porter Novelli and Atlanta-based partner Creative Outhouse marketing firm to educate drivers about expansion of the Peach State's high occupancy toll roads.

SRTABert Brantley, deputy director of the SRTA, told the Atlanta Business Chronicle that the PR budget could reach $10M during the next five years.

Georgia opened HOT (high occupancy toll) lanes on Interstate 85 in 2011.

Those lanes, which allow registered cars with at least three people to ride for free, are slated for Interstate 75 north and south of Atlanta over the next few years.

The PR campaign will focus on info about the opening dates of the new lands, requirements for use and how to sign up for the needed Peach Pass.

Governor Nathan Deal plans to remove tolls from the GA 400, which serves metro Atlanta, by Thanksgiving to fulfill a campaign promise.

That toll had been scheduled to die in 2017.