Federal safety agency investigating I-85 bridge fire
The Georgia Department of Transportation was more concerned about the spools of plastic and fiberglass conduit under the I-85 bridge being stolen than they were it catching fire and causing a devastating collapse, officials said.
GDOT Commissioner Russell McMurry told the The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Tuesday that the fencing around the conduit material was there more to keep the material in than to keep people out.
Related: I-85 to reopen by June 15, officials say
Related: Map: The I-85 bridge collapse, detours and road closures
As the AJC reported Tuesday, DOT left the tons of conduit under the bridge apparently untouched for several years. The AJC also learned Tuesday that the National Transportation Safety Board, with GDOT's cooperation, is investigating the storage of the material under the bridge and will report its findings to the Federal Highway Administration and the state.
A homeless man has been arrested and charged with arson. Police say he lit a chair on fire last week, which then ignited tons of the high-density polyethylene conduit, which then burned hot enough to collapse the bridge.
“The gating and fencing was really to keep the material from being stolen,” McMurry said. “Obviously, from what we know now, we would not have stored the material in the fashion it was stored in.”
About the Author
Dan Klepal is editor of the local government team, supervising nine reporters covering county and municipal governments and metro Atlanta. Klepal came to the AJC in 2012, after a long career covering city halls in Cincinnati and Louisville, Ky. He has covered Gwinnett and Cobb counties before spending three years on the investigative team.
