3 months later, fence put up around I-85 collapse site

ATLANTA — Three months after reopening the bridge on I-85, there is now new security around the site of the massive fire and collapse.

The Georgia Department of Transportation added a chain-link fence surrounding the area to prevent trespassing on state property.

The $20,000 investment is there to secure the space, which once held the flammable materials that burned the bridge down.

“It should have been done that way from the beginning. We could have avoided all of that,” said Keytorious Holliday, who lives in the area.

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A homeless man named Basil Eleby is charged with arson for the March 30 fire. Two other homeless people, who were originally considered suspects, said Eleby was smoking crack cocaine before he lit a chair on fire on top of a shopping cart, which then spread to the materials kept under the bridge.

Eleby’s pro bono legal team is moving for his case to be dismissed while he goes through drug and career counseling.

Channel 2’s Nicole Carr reached out to GDOT, who confirmed this is the only bridge location where a security fence has been installed.

Months later, there’s still no formal policy for storing the type of flammable material that was under the bridge during the fire.

GDOT says it cannot draft that policy until the NTSB and fire investigations are complete.

Cox Media Group