Piedmont Road reopens earlier than expected

ATLANTA — Piedmont Road has reopened earlier than anticipated, after crews closed it for work on the collapsed portion of Interstate 85.

Southbound lanes of Piedmont Road reopened around 7:30 a.m., about an hour-and-a-half earlier than expected. The northbound lanes opened up shortly after.

The busy road was shut down at 9 a.m. Tuesday and was expected to be closed to drivers for 24 hours.

Crews have installed 61 new beams to rebuild the collapsed portion of Interstate 85.

Wednesday night crews will begin laying the road with quick-curing concrete.

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For drivers who didn't get the memo during the construction work, they had to make U-turns because police blocked the road so workers could install new beams for the bridge.

It frustrated drivers when the road closed Tuesday morning.

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The man in charge of the re-construction project said closing the road was necessary.

“Right now, we have beams set for five of the six spans, and on two of out of those five, we also have the steel reinforcement tied, which will be a part of that deck when it's completed,” Marc Mastronardi with the Georgia Department of Transportation said.

When crews moved the steel beams into place and police put up the barricades, that started a gridlock.

Alternate roads for drivers, such as Cheshire Bridge Road, became even more congested than they did following the initial closure of the stretch of I-85.

More than 80 people are working 24/7 to reconstruct the I-85 bridge, which burned downed several weeks ago.

GDOT officials said they're not sure if Piedmont Road will have to shut down again.

“There may be one additional closure when it comes to pour the span they're setting right now, but that could also be accomplished in another way, we haven't determined that yet,” Mastronardi said.

Cox Media Group