The Georgia Department of Transportation worked Monday to determine why a one-ton section of the decorative fence on the 17th Street bridge fell onto the Downtown Connector but the agency declined to offer much information about what the agency is finding.
DOT Commissioner Vance Smith said the agency will hire an outside consultant to “conduct a thorough forensic audit of the incident.”
In the meantime, DOT is removing all the decorative fencing on the south side of the bridge and the agency was to inspect fencing on the other side of the bridge Monday night as well as check any other decorative fences on bridges.
“We are extremely fortunate and eternally grateful that this incident did not result in tragedy,” Smith said.
A 170-foot section of the fencing, which included a canopy that curved over 17th Street as it crosses the Connector, crashed onto six northbound lanes of I-75/85 around 11 p.m. Saturday. A light pole prevented the entire fence from collapsing.
Officials said a catastrophe was avoided because traffic on the connector was light at that hour.
Initially, a DOT spokesman said on Sunday one possible theory was that a broken bolt loosened one of the metal panels, triggering a domino-like effect along the east-bound side of the bridge. By Monday morning, DOT refused to suggest a theory.
“We don’t know that that is the cause,” GDOT spokeswoman Jill Goldberg said.
Since the accident, GDOT and others involved with the construction of the 830-foot steel box girder bridge have been careful to define their roles in the project, which opened in 2004.
While GDOT said it was not responsible for the fence's rendering-- "We did not design it. Period,” Goldberg said -- the agency must approve any designs and work involving state transportation projects.
The fencing was designed by a subcontractor, URS, a multi-national company hired by Moreland Altobelli Associates of Norcross. One of the principles of Moreland Altobelli, which also designed the bridge, is former DOT Commissioner Tom Moreland.
Messages left with URS's office on Abernathy Road in north Atlanta were not returned Monday.
The president of C.W. Matthews Contracting Co., Bill Hammock, said his company installed the fencing canopy per designer's specifications. He said nothing like this has ever happened with a C.W. Matthews project but added the firm also had never installed a canopy like that one either.
C.W. Matthews has worked on state transportation projects all over the state that have totaled costs of billions of dollars.
“I would say the assumption is those things would never come off unless somebody or something intervened,” said Peter Vanderzee, president and CEO of Lifespan Technologies, which monitors “major components” on bridges. His company has not monitored bridge fencing but focuses on heavier portions of bridges like the supports or the girders.
“Maybe if there was vandalism or if you had a tornado or a big gust or wind, [the fencing could fail]. They don’t just fail like that," Vanderzee said.
"There’s probably something that GDOT can investigate.”
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