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I-85 reopens at Spaghetti Junction after bus fire
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
All lanes of I-85 at Spaghetti Junction were reopened Thursday night after a spectacular bus fire that made a nightmare of the afternoon rush hour.
Southbound and northbound lanes on I-85 had been stalled at Spaghetti Junction as emergency officials worked to contain a bus fire.
By 8:40 p.m., all lanes were reopen, well more than three hours after the fire.
A compressed-gas powered Gwinnett County Transit bus caught fire in the middle of southbound rush-hour traffic Thursday afternoon.
Lanes were closed because emergency workers feared that the bus’ fuel tanks might explode, said Georgia DOT spokeswoman Teri Pope.
The cause of the fire is unknown. Authorities said the bridge had no structural damage but the bus was destroyed and would have to be dragged to the highway’s shoulder.
The 2002 Orion-7 bus was making an empty run from Gwinnett County into DeKalb to pick up passengers, said John Autry, general manager for Gwinnett’s transit contractor, Veolia Transportation.
The bus driver was uninjured. The bus stopped in the high-occupancy vehicle lane of I-85 southbound just before 5 p.m.
All traffic heading south stopped on I-85 as a fire tanker truck was brought to the scene, said Pope.
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