Atlanta commuters weren’t the only ones celebrating the early opening of the I-85 corridor only six weeks after a March 30 fire and bridge collapse shut down portions of the busy interstate.
Although no exact figures have been released, its apparent that metro Atlanta businesses felt the impact of the road closure as employees looked for alternate routes into work, and area residents found new places to shop and dine to avoid the long delays and congested roads.
Invest Atlanta, the city’s development authority, jumped into action soon after the fire and bridge collapse conducted a survey of businesses in the area to determine how this event was impacting them. As reported in an earlier edition of InsiderAdvantage, they found that 75% of businesses around the area of the collapse reported a loss of customers during April. The report stated that 63% reported delays in employees managing to get in to work, 55% reported increased delivery times, and 36% reported increased delivery costs.
That’s why those businesses, and the Metro Atlanta Chamber, were celebrating the opening of I-85 weeks ahead of schedule. In fact, Hala Moddelmog, President and CEO, Metro Atlanta Chamber, praised the quick repairs, and also said this incident should provide a learning opportunity.
“The efficiency, speed and commitment shown by all involved in the repair of I-85 is worth applauding. The work done has given us a glimpse into our region’s resiliency,” said Moddelmog.
“And after that section of the highway re-opens, it’s important that we sustain the mode-shift we saw. MARTA rail ridership increased more than 25 percent, our businesses embraced flexible working and our citizens encouraged their neighbors to use transit and ride-sharing. Let’s continue to be creative and avoid adding congestion to our roadways during peak periods,” said Moddelmog.
“The real lesson we’ve learned is that expanding transit across our region is a must. This is critical when it comes to allowing businesses to move freight efficiently – an important factor in driving our economy,” Moddelmog added.
An estimated 243,000 trips daily go over the impacted overpass each weekday, with commuters from as far north as Cumming and as far south as Newnan making the trip into the city for work. And, as reported yesterday in InsiderAdvantage, overall congestion was up 30% citywide with some areas, particularly those near the scene of the incident and on direct alternate routes, saw a 50% increase in traffic.
During the construction period, 700-foot of bridges were reconstructed, 13 support columns were re-constructed, and 61 beams were designed, fabricated and installed. Over 13 million pounds of the damaged bridge were demolished and removed, and over 2,100 cubic feet of concrete (equivalent to 230 concrete truckloads) were brought in.
Officials said the cost for the demolition was about $1.6 million, with a price tag of $11.9 million to rebuild. The federal government is expected to pay at least 90 percent of the cost of rebuilding the bridge.
