I-85 Piedmont Avenue Overpass
Photo
Collapsed bridge, fire still burning underneath
WSB-TV
View this photo at pbs.twimg.com
BH Photo #384877
Description
Concrete viaduct carrying I-85 over Piedmont Road, Peachtree Creek, and DOT storage area burned and then northbound lanes collapsed on March 30, 2017. Southbound lanes damaged and closed also, though did not collapse. Suspect wooden spools of PVC tubing stored under viaduct ignited somehow. (Shown on google street view.) Arson is suspected with 3 individuals arrested.Key location on Atlanta's highway system, loss of this bridge will cause traffic nightmares for all of Atlanta for a considerable amount of time. Fortunately, no injuries.
Reopening tentatively scheduled for June 15, 2017, with contractor incentives for finishing prior to that date.
Facts
- Overview
- Lost Concrete deck girder bridge over Piedmont Avenue and Peachtree Creek on I-85
- Location
- Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia
- Status
- Destroyed by fire, NB lanes collapsed
- Future prospects
- Will be rebuilt as quickly as possible, reopening set for June 15, 2017
- History
- Destroyed by fire March 30, 2017
- Design
- Concrete deck girder viaduct over Piedmont Avenue, S Fork Peachtree Creek, and empty land
- Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 119.1 ft.
Total length: 4,151.1 ft. (0.8 mi.)
Deck width: 155.8 ft.
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +33.81532, -84.36373 (decimal degrees)
33°48'55" N, 84°21'49" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 16/744012/3744805 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Northeast Atlanta
- Average daily traffic (as of 2012)
- 199,160
- Inventory numbers
- GA 12105510 (Georgia bridge number on the National Bridge Inventory)
BH 76351 (Bridgehunter.com ID) - Inspection report (as of August 2015)
- Overall condition: Good
Superstructure condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Deck condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 78 (out of 100)
View more at BridgeReports.com
Update Log
- April 23, 2017: Updated by Roger Deschner: Changed name to Piedmont Ave Overpass, SB lanes destroyed too, clarified description, reopening date; add new street view
- March 30, 2017: New Street View added by Roger Deschner
Sources
- Roger Deschner - rogerdeschner [at] gmail [dot] com
- Wikipedia
Comments
He looks like a scoundrel to me.
I'm not sure if we have the right NBI listing for the collapsed bridge. This one seems to fit the dimensions better:
http://uglybridges.com/1096301
Curiously, the Associated Press story about the collapse identifies the wrong bridge. The story says: "Built in 1953 and renovated in 1985, the collapsed span scored a sufficiency rating of 94.6 out of 100 in its last inspection in 2015, said Natalie Dale, a spokeswoman for the Georgia DOT."
The only NBI bridge matching that description is on Highway 13 (Old Interstate 85) some distance away:
.
News article
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/04/01/3-arrested-in-atlanta-f...
Concrete is not indestructible...
.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/ga/fulton/bh76351/
I'm not sure either. More recent reports would seem to pinpoint the failed spans as being part of the Piedmont Avenue overpass and viaduct. The fire location was just northeast of Piedmont Avenue, and google street views from Piedmont under the bridge also show the suspicious spools. I originally added this, and I'll fix it up when better information becomes available.
Georgia DOT inspectors have now also condemned the southbound lanes as having been damaged by the fire badly enough to require replacement, even though that bridge did not collapse.