It took all of one hour Friday for the morning commute to go sideways after two tractor-trailers crashed on two of the busiest stretches of metro Atlanta’s interstate system.
Authorities shut down all eastbound lanes of I-285 shortly after 5 a.m. after the first tractor-trailer hit a barrier wall and overturned in the construction zone at the Ga. 400 interchange. Then, at about 5:40 a.m., another big rig overturned and lost its trailer on an entrance ramp to the Downtown Connector, shutting down the northbound lanes at North Avenue.
The downtown lanes began reopening 30 minutes later, but it took cleanup crews much of the morning to clear the widely scattered truck wreckage. And on the top end of the Perimeter, all lanes remained shut down until 7:45 a.m., when traffic was allowed to get by to the left.
The damage at that point was done, and extreme delays remained for the rest of the commute, according to the WSB 24-hour Traffic Center.
Sandy Springs police said the driver of a Nissan Altima will face charges of failure to maintain lane and driving on a suspended license in the I-285 wreck after losing control of the vehicle and slamming into the tractor-trailer. Both drivers were taken to a hospital with injuries that police did not consider life-threatening.
No one was injured and no other vehicles were involved in the Downtown Connector crash, according to Atlanta police. No citations were issued to the tractor-trailer’s driver.
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