DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — The one-year anniversary of the I-85 bridge collapse is Friday night, but residents in one Dekalb County neighborhood say they’re still suffering.
Jim Renfroe says with the exception of his lawn mower, life along Woodland Hills Drive was always quite peaceful. Until one year ago.
"Nightmare. Yeah. Rush hour is probably 400 cars coming through here,” Renfroe said.
Right after a section of the I-85 bridge came down, commuters had to find a way around the construction zone, and they discovered this street. "I would say we've had an increase of probably triple since the bridge went down and they haven’t stopped,” homeowner Susan Kramer said.
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It become a very popular cut through from Lavista Road to Lenox. Locals say 12 months later, it still is.
"It makes it a dangerous situation for pedestrians here because they're all running 35 to 40 miles an hour in a 25 speed limit zone,” Vernon Dawson said.
Resident thought that once the bridge was repaired, drivers would go back to their normal routes. But many have not.
Some blame navigation apps such as Waze and Google Maps.
"They're fabulous. But they bring people to the neighborhood,” Kramer said.
She believes some drivers will take the cut through just to shave a few seconds off their trip.
"If we have a bridge out and you can't use Cheshire Bridge Road, then yes. Go through our neighborhood. But not to save 30 seconds."
The Woodland Hills Neighborhood Association has asked DeKalb County to install speed humps on the street to at least slow the cars down.
Trey Harris, who owns Midtown Trainers, said he definitely lost some clients, but others still managed to stick with him.
“The others who were more positive saw it as an opportunity, one client would ride his bike in,” Harris said.
Cox Media Group
