FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — The two lanes of I-285 near Langford Parkway that were shut down Monday due to bridge damage are back open after crews worked throughout the night. One Atlanta man, Matt Handspike stumbled upon the 6-foot-wide hole reported it to police and then to the Georgia Department of Transportation.
Handspike was walking underneath the bridge on his way to visit his aunt who lives near Mt. Gilead Rd. when he first noticed that something was wrong.
"I was walking down Mt. Gilead towards her direction. I came to the bridge and as I proceeded to go underneath the bridge, about midway through I heard some rocks tumbling and falling and I looked to see where they were falling from. Low and behold, there was a hole developing in the bridge," said Handspike.
According to Handspike, the hole was originally the size of a basketball when he called 911 around 12:30 pm Monday. He said he felt prompted to call to prevent anyone from getting hurt.
"Every time a tire, especially on a big rig, would hit the hole more concrete would fall away from it and it continued. I thought, this is developing into something real dangerous and that's what prompted me to go ahead and call 911," he said.
Officials responded Monday afternoon to the 911 calls that were placed by Handspike and drivers on the bridge who reported the hole.
According to GDOT the hole formed underneath the 60-year-old bridge. Natalie Dale, a GDOT spokesperson said that it's not uncommon to see infrastructure issues like these.
"We have started to see this in some spots of metro Atlanta – some of this degrading of the pavement at bridge joints, and we keep an eye on those and our bridge inspectors will make sure they’re doing extra rounds to see if there's additional spots we need to address. So again, on a bridge this age – it’s not highly common, but it’s not uncommon to see this wear and tear," she said.
GDOT was able to stay on track with their repair schedule and lanes were reopened this morning. The hole was filled with what is normally used for potholes as a temporary fix.
Repairs on hole alongside bridge on I-285
Their most recent update came Tuesday morning via their social media where they announced the re-opening of all lanes and coming back for extensive repairs at a later date.