SAVANNAH — Savannah planners are taking a vertical approach to traffic congestion on a major thoroughfare and considering a new elevated expressway.

The new expressway on Savannah’s Abercorn Extension would have two levels of traffic, one right above the other.

The Coastal Region Metropolitan Planning Organization is preparing to present its plan to build the elevated four-lane expressway above Abercorn’s median.

The project would separate regional commuters from local traffic. Standing about 35-feet high at its base, the 2.6-mile bypass would add two lanes in each direction from an intersection west of Rio Road to the south end of the Truman Parkway at Holland Drive.

The project could cost more than $200 million, with some funding coming from a toll on the new roadway.