Community Forums

audigger · 03-30-2017, 05:57 PM

3/30/2017....Due to fire under the interstate with a section of north bound collapsing and south bound sustained significant damage. Use I-285 around...NOT GOOD...

Lifemember · 03-30-2017, 05:59 PM

Portion of I-85 collapses due to massive fire - Story | FOX 13 Tampa Bay

scenic route · 03-30-2017, 06:50 PM

Gads! We got out of town(after 10 years) in '87 because of the crazy traffic...just what these Atlantans needed to enhance their daily commute.

Wouldn't this be a little like storing large amounts of gasoline in the electrical room of a building? What could possibly go wrong?

allegro1x · 03-31-2017, 04:08 AM

This will be a problem for the rest of the year, because of reconstruction of the bridge. I285 for going around Atl either going north or south, because a lot of traffic will be using I75 now. Downtown Atl will be a real nightmare. Dave

marknpeg · 03-31-2017, 06:10 AM

We left Atlanta in November after 30 years, wow. Still in touch with friends there and they are freaking out. Thankfully it looks like no one was hurt. There were a lot of construction materials under there which apparently caused the meltdown. That bridge is a monster too, couple miles long, and sheltered a lot of homeless too. Traffic was already horrible and I-85 was the worst corridor. Now I can't imagine what it will be like, really glad to be out of there!

allegro1x · 03-31-2017, 07:56 AM

Just heard now south bound lane will have to be either be repaired or replaced. So both north and south lanes ane shut down. This is just after the I75/I85 split in downtown Atlanta. Dave

CharlesinGA · 03-31-2017, 05:37 PM

It is where Piedmont Road NE crosses under I-85 just south of the GA400/I-85 interchange, and 1½ miles north of the 75/85 split. This is the long elevated section that frequently freezes in the winter when conditions are right.

Going north/south on 75 through downtown is ok.

Google maps is already drawing alternate routes around it. I just tried it.

Southbound bridge has been condemned also, first estimates are to complete a new bridge by Thanksgiving at the earliest if they fast track it.

Looking at Google Maps Street view, you can see the large rolls of fiber optic cable, possibly a hundred of them, that were stored under the bridge. I haven't heard but knowing that Google is going to wire Atlanta with fiber optic cable, I suspect it might be connected. (no pun intended)

Google street view of underside of I-85 bridge showing the spools of fiber optic, image made Nov '16.

Charles

KT4Wextra · 03-31-2017, 09:03 PM

That area under I-85 is where GDOT had a office for some traffic engineers. I used to call on them at that location a number of years back (been retired over 10 years). GDOT also had a storage yard of construction materials there and that was what burned. They used fiber optic cable to interconnect all the traffic cameras and traffic signs, no connection with Google. The building that houses the traffic monitoring is a sight to see. The address for the GDOT office was on Plaster Avenue which goes along the north side of the area that burned but their office was under the interstate bridge. They will remove 3 sections of bridge structure and supports on both the north and southbound highway, approximately 350' of surface in each direction I believe is 5 lanes wide in that area. Checking the street view of Plaster Avenue it appears it is now the main office for the HERO organization (Incident Management). The HERO trucks are the ones that patrol the interstates around Atlanta and give aide to broke down vehicles and accidents, a very dangerous job.