Pedestrian killed, tractor-trailer catches fire in crashes that snarl I-285

Two predawn crashes made a mess of things Monday on I-285 in DeKalb County, shutting down both the inner and outer loops for hours during the morning commute.

A deadly crash that closed the southbound lanes at Glenwood Road cleared by 9 a.m., but authorities remained on the scene of a tractor-trailer fire on the outer loop for much of the morning, according to the WSB 24-hour Traffic Center.

All eastbound lanes were shut down at Flat Shoals Parkway around 4:45 a.m., when the big rig was involved in a multivehicle wreck and burst into flames.

According to DeKalb police, the tractor-trailer’s brakes went out and it hit two unoccupied, abandoned vehicles after pulling into an emergency lane. One of the empty vehicles also caught fire, but no one was injured, a police spokesperson said.

The flames were extinguished by daybreak, but a crash investigation and cleanup continued until 11:30 a.m. Traffic began to ease around 9:30 a.m., when authorities reopened two left lanes.

During the shutdown, traffic was being diverted off I-285 East onto Flat Shoals Parkway, prompting traffic reporter Mike Shields to advise commuters to “avoid the Southside Perimeter altogether.” Motorists were crowding onto I-20 East for the majority of the commute.

On the inner loop, traffic was backed up for miles behind another wreck at Glenwood Road. A pedestrian was hit and killed, and the driver involved stayed at the scene, police said.

All southbound lanes were closed at 5:30 a.m. and started reopening two hours later.

The name of the pedestrian killed was not released, and it was not clear if the driver would face charges.