Fire crumbles Atlanta interstate bridge; no casualties
ATLANTA (AP) — A massive fire caused an interstate bridge to collapse during rush hour on Thursday in Atlanta, just minutes after witnesses said police halted traffic and turned cars away from the crumbling overpass.
However, officials said no one was hurt despite dramatic images of towering flames and plumes of smoke.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the fire burned for more than an hour under I-85 northbound near Piedmont Road, spewing large clouds of black smoke skyward.
The interstate — a major artery for the US South that runs through the heart of Atlanta — was closed indefinitely.
The impact on traffic long-term was not immediately known, but traffic was bumper to bumper on nearby surface streets on Thursday night as people scrambled to find alternate routes.
The Department of Transportation warned all motorists to stay off I-85.
“This is about as serious a transportation crisis as we can imagine,” Mayor Kasim Reed said.
All Rose Diggs told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that she lives less than a mile from the fire site, but couldn’t get home because of blocked surface streets.
She said she was told to walk despite being disabled, “but it’s raining and dark.”
The state’s top transportation official said there’s no way to tell when the highway, which carries 250,000 cars per day, can be safely reopened to traffic in either direction.
“We will have to continue to evaluate the situation and adjust as we do,” Department of Transportation Commissioner Russell McMurry said.