I-85 bridge collapse: A look back at what became one of Atlanta’s biggest traffic nightmares ever

ATLANTA — It was one of those events that Atlantans will never forget – the day a bridge along Interstate 85 collapsed after a fire raged underneath it.

It was during the evening rush hour just after 6 p.m. on March 30, 2017 when black smoke started billowing from underneath the 85 overpass at Piedmont Road.

What everyone thought was initially a car fire turned out to be much more.

Police eventually charged a homeless man, Basil Eleby, with setting fire to a chair that ignited a huge surplus of highly flammable coils that had been stored under the highway for years.

The flames eventually caused the bridge to catch fire and collapse.

That was the moment everyone in Atlanta realized this was more than just a traffic headache for one evening commute.

And two things began: a weeks-long commuting nightmare unlike any other and a race to rebuild in record time.

“My normal 10-minute commute became a 40-minute commute,” driver Erin McFadden said at the time.

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Contractors began clearing the debris as soon as the site was safe and worked round-the-clock shifts to rebuild.

Some six weeks later, the bridge was back open.

The National Transportation Safety Board put the blame for the fire after its investigation on the Georgia Department of Transportation for storing those combustible materials under the highway.

GDOT conducted a statewide review of operations to make sure it’s protected against a fire like this in the future.

Eleby was granted a $10,000 bond after spending 20 days in the Fulton County Jail. Eleby walked out with his team of civil rights attorneys on Wednesday April 19, 2017, with conditions that he stays 1,000 feet away from the scene of the fire and remain in drug treatment.

RELATED NEWS:

NTSB: Georgia DOT partly to blame for I-85 bridge collapse The report suggests a Georgia Department of Transportation decision contributed to the collapse.

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