I-75 north reopens after wreck that left one dead
Interstate 75 reopened to northbound traffic just before 7 p.m. Thursday, almost seven hours after a multi-vehicle wreck that left at least one person dead.
As many as 20 cars were involved in the morning wreck just north of Barrett Parkway on I-75, according to Sgt. Wayne Delk, spokesman for the Cobb County Police Department.
Pictures taken Thursday morning showed at least one truck ablaze under a column of black smoke.
Barrett Parkway on-ramps were closed, and Cobb Department of Transportation crews were diverting traffic from I-75 north to I-575, choking traffic on nearby
side streets including Cobb Parkway and Chastain and Shiloh roads, according to the county’s social media pages.
Northwest corridor managed lanes were shut down southbound at Big Shanty, according to the state Department of Transportation. Entrance gates and signs were closed from Big Shanty back to the first southbound entrance on I-75, although the managed lane system remained open southbound on I-575 and on I-75 from
Roswell Road to I-285.
“It’s a pretty bad wreck — multiple vehicles, including a tractor trailer,” Delk said Thursday morning, adding that “one or more vehicles are on fire.”
As of 7 p.m. Thursday, investigators had yet to report the cause of the wreck, but Delk suggested rain may have played a role.
“This type of weather is the worst, because people don’t realize how dangerous the roads are,” he said.