A 94-year-old bridge set to be taken down and replaced in Atlanta and the project is going to snarl traffic for a while.
Northside Drive will close for 90 days while the bridge is removed over Peachtree Creek in Buckhead.
Channel 2 anchor Justin Farmer found some answers on what’s to come and what inconveniences drivers will face.
When the bridge over Peachtree Creek was built, Calvin Coolidge was president and Atlanta’s Bobby Jones was the British Open champion. The golf course that bears his name is right near the bridge.
“That’s the bridge that was last built in 1926, so this bridge is almost 100 years old,” said Natalie Dale, spokeswoman for Georgia Department of Transportation.
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Dale told Channel 2 that work will begin to replace the bridge on Sept. 8. Crews will also improve infrastructure for the neighborhood such as water and sewer.
“It takes a lot of traffic, especially truck traffic that goes across that, so we need to replace it,” Atlanta City Councilman JP Matzigkit told Farmer. “It’s being done by CW Matthews who did the I-85 bridge, so they have experience in doing replacement of bridges quickly.”
Construction will take about 90 days. GDOT said there will be plenty of detour signage to try to keep people out of the residential areas.
It is an ideal time for such a project because there have been fewer vehicles on the road.
“The original plan was intermittent closures, which would have taken much longer,” Dale said.
“When you have a position, you have a time where you can do a full closure, you really do get more work done. You get the same amount of work done compressed and get it done faster.”
Cox Media Group
