Two people were killed early Wednesday in a two-vehicle crash on I-285 West in Sandy Springs, closing multiple lanes of the interstate for hours and resulting in major delays all over metro Atlanta.
The I-285 Outer Loop reopened at the Chattahoochee River Bridge, near New Northside Drive, just before 9:30 a.m. Wednesday after more than four hours of closures. During the shutdown, drivers attempting to avoid the crash crowded onto I-75, I-85 and Ga. 400.
The resulting delays complicated the morning commute for drivers in Cobb, DeKalb and Fulton counties, according to the WSB 24-hour Traffic Center.
The trouble started before daybreak, when a sedan slammed into the back of a tractor-trailer slowing through a work zone. Construction crews were wrapping an overnight project and collecting barrels near the bridge before the accident, Channel 2 Action News reported.
The driver and the passenger in the sedan were killed in the crash, Sandy Springs police confirmed. They were identified by police as Derrien O’Neal, 33, of Atlanta, and Sydni Hackett, 31, also an Atlanta resident.
“There’s no indication of alcohol being involved,” Capt. Forrest Bohannon told Channel 2. “It’s very preliminary in the investigation and we don’t have any evidence of the driver being impaired.”
Neither the truck driver nor construction workers were reported injured.
Nearly all of the Top End of the Perimeter was gridlocked for a time Wednesday, as delays from the fatal crash stretched back to Spaghetti Junction and a second crash on the Inner Loop near Riverside Drive jammed drivers headed in the opposite direction.
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