Construction on part of a new interchange on I-575 in Woodstock came to a halt Thursday morning after 16,000-pound sections of a retaining wall collapsed.
The collapse near the Ridgewalk Parkway Bridge on southbound I-575 in Cherokee County was caused when the bracing gave way as crews erected the wall, Georgia Department of Transportation spokesman Mohamed Arafa said. No injuries were reported.
“It appears they were compacting the ground on one side of the retaining wall for the new interchange and several sections of the wall fell,” assistant Woodstock Fire Chief Jimmy Eley said. “One of the sections fell on the tractor."
This is the second project in as many weeks headed by DOT contractor C.W. Matthews that experienced some level of tumbling debris.
On Aug. 14, part of the structure from the 17th Street bridge fell onto the Downtown Connector below. C.W. Matthews was one of the contractors on that project eight years ago, and later acquired the other contractor APAC Georgia.
C.W. Matthews president Bill Hammack pointed out that the two accidents happened under different circumstances – one with a wall under construction and the other with a completed structure.
"Anytime, whether it's a failure like the one at 17thStreet or the one today on I-575, that our company is involved, we have to be concerned," Hammack said. "Fortunately, no one was hurt. And we'll do an investigation to see if anything can be done differently."
DOT spokesman David Spear said the agency wasn’t worried about the contractor’s connection to the two accidents.
“It’s just coincidental,” Spear said. “They were two unfortunate circumstances.”
At least seven of the huge sections came down, Eley said. After the collapse, state Department of Transportation crews began trying to right the sections. Traffic along I-575 south was affected at one point.
Work on the interchange, which is north of the Towne Lake interchange at Ridgewalk Road, began in February and is expected to be completed by December 2012.
The new interchange will help relieve traffic and open undeveloped land north of downtown Woodstock for further development.
The $17 million project, for which C.W. Matthews was the lowest bidder, includes the replacement of the existing bridge over I-575, the realignment of existing roads, and the construction of auxiliary lanes between the new interchange and the Towne Lake Parkway interchange.
Hammack said his company did everything to make their work safe.
“We take pride in being innovative and being the low-cost provider,” Hammack said. “Regardless of the money aspects, there are standards and safety regulations that we have to adhere to.”
__ Staff writer Christopher Seward contributed to this article
About the Author
