bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

i'm sure glad i don't live in atlanta any longer... but very glad no one was hurt.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/traffic-...se-in-atlanta/

is this causing anyone on here grief?

mmarshall

Agreed.....glad no one was hurt. But it's probably going to be a traffic nightmare for months. Looks like it started with a vehicle fire and spread to plastic bridge-wiring. There's a couple of old bridges here in this area, across the Potomac, that are getting cause for concern...one of them dates back to the 1930s.

I know you're a mod, but doesn't an article like this belong more in Clubhouse than Car Chat?

Corey140

It wasn't a vehicle fire. Some intentional set the pvc pipes and other items on fire.

I had a day off yesterday due to the fire.

It should be interesting in the next couple weeks once schools are back in session.

mmarshall

Yeah, it was a little unclear. According to the article, the Governor described it as items on a vehicle.


If they think it was intentional (arson) I sure wouldn't want to be in the suspect's shoes, if he or she gets caught. That person (or persons) are going be in a world of s***. It's going to take months (and probably millions of tax or insurance dollars) to repair that damage and re-certify it for traffic again. The City of Atlanta is not going to take that lightly.


Stuck in gridlock and couldn't get to the office? Or did your office just close down?

They may have to re-route some school busses, which means a longer drive, and kids having to get up earlier in the morning to be ready at the bus stop. Then, of course, kids getting back home later in the afternoon from the longer drive.

JDR76

When we had our Skagit River bridge collapse they were pretty quick in getting a temporary replacement span in place. I suspect they'll be able to do the same here.

As for Atlanta, they've already arrested three people.

mmarshall

Yeah, I remember that collapse.

The military, in particular, is good at erecting quick temporary bridges for tanks, trucks, and other vehicles to use on the battlefield. But how well that would work for Interstate highway conditions, and hundreds of thousands of vehicles a day, is questionable (an engineer would be more qualified to answer that then me). Also, the Skagit span was crossing a river...in this case, it's a traffic-overpass, which is different criteria.

Great news. Hope they got the right people. If so, they will probably deserve what they get.

BrownPride

Still not as bad a collapse as the Falcons 28-3 lead.

gengar

So long as the structural columns aren't severely damaged, rebuilding the highway can be done very quickly (when the government and contractors actually put their minds to something) - so hopefully the same will be the case here. The Bay Bridge was repaired in a month after the '89 earthquake and similar for the Santa Monica Highway after the '94 earthquake, and IIRC a similar highway collapse due to fire in Oakland at the I-580 to I-80 connector was repaired in less than a month. EDIT: Sorry, was wrong about this last part. Even in the case of complete rebuilds, the I-35 bridge in Minneapolis was reconstructed in less than 2 months after it collapsed.

RXSF

I love how the governor declared a "state of emergency" lol. Everything is a state of emergency these days.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

awesome post lol

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

The company who originally built it is already on the job and fed transportation sec Chao sent $10m to help get it done.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

as you often write, thank you for your input. this is about cars, traffic, roads, so it belongs in Car Chat.

2KHarrier

That made me chuckle...

I have a few friends in the ATL (as the kids say..) and it is a nightmare trying to go north from downtown. It's going to be a lifestyle change for anyone who commutes into town over the next few months. I lived on the south side in McDonough years ago, and even that area has grown exponentially... So glad I don't live there any more.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

Going to be a win for MARTA (train/subway) though.

rogerh00

I35 took 13 months to rebuild.

This won't be an easy rebuild since the structure is sandwiched between two other elevated structures. They are now reporting the SB side is damaged also.

The state will have rethink what they store under these viaducts. Apparently it was PVC pipe being stored underneath is what caught fire after the crack addict lit a chair on fire.