Local nurse feels impact of I-85 bridge collapse

ATLANTA — A nurse who travels Interstate 85 into Atlanta for work said her drive time has more than doubled since the overpass bridge collapse.

"The problem is, the adjustment was not small. The adjustment was pretty significant," Donna Butler told Channel 2's Nefertiti Jaquez.

Butler is a nurse and clinical manager at Piedmont Atlanta Hospital. She said what used to be a 45-minute commute to work, now takes her more than two hours.

"I am just a little taken aback by how much one bridge can make a change in everybody and the commute into our city," Butler said.

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She said the I-85 bridge collapse has forced her, like many in the metro, to rearrange her schedule.

She said while the drive is tough on her body, she has no other choice.

"It is tiring, but we do what we have to do to because it comes with our job, and I have to be here to support my staff and the patients that are here," Butler said.

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She told Jaquez the bridge collapse isn't just affecting her commute, it is also affecting her home life.

The married mother of two also said she's not able to hang out kids or even cook dinner for her family because she has to be in bed so early.

"I am not always there and active when I usually am," Butler said.

That, she admits, is the hardest part.

Butler said she never thought that when the parts of the interstate came crashing down on March 30 her life would become more difficult.

Now, with Georgia Department of Transportation officials saying the bridge won't be repaired until June, she's starting to face the sad reality.

"It's not a week, it's not two weeks. To know well to accept I have to get up very, very early for a while is a big realization of change that I'm going to have to make," Butler said.

Cox Media Group