PAULDING COUNTY, Ga. — Bill Carruth Parkway has reopened after emergency road repairs forced the busy roadway to close for nearly 24 hours near Hiram.
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The closure affected Bill Carruth Parkway just south of U.S. 278, sending drivers on lengthy detours while crews repaired damaged pavement.
According to crews on scene, the damage happened when a contractor boring underground to install new cable came too close to the surface, causing the roadway to buckle across all lanes.
Many drivers said they were caught off guard by the sudden closure.
“This is a lot of people’s main route to work,” one driver said.
Another driver, Josh Proctor, said he wasn’t sure what had happened.
“Oh, I have no clue. I know yesterday around noon there was nothing going on. Then came back out and have the army tearing up the road,” Proctor said.
Crews from the Paulding County Department of Transportation and C&R Paving responded to the damaged roadway.
Jason Ratliff with C&R Paving said the buckled pavement was severe enough that crews had to excavate a large section of the road before making repairs.
“Cars were coming up over it, blowing out suspensions. It wasn’t good,” Ratliff said.
He said crews dug a trench about six feet deep and 18 feet wide across the roadway before repacking the area and laying new asphalt.
By Thursday morning, the northbound lanes reopened shortly after the morning rush hour. The southbound lanes reopened later in the day after crews completed the repairs.
The closure forced many drivers to find alternate routes.
“Gonna have to take quite a long detour to get around here, so quite a bit of a mess,” driver Drew Thomas said.
All lanes of Bill Carruth Parkway are now back open to traffic.
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