I-20 temporarily closed after fiery wreck

RAW: One westbound lane of I-20 reopened after fiery wreck JOHN SPINK/JSPINK@AJC.COM

All westbound lanes of I-20 in west Georgia were shut down for about three hours Wednesday morning because of a fiery wreck involving a tractor-trailer and a bus.

The crash, which happened around 6:10 a.m. on I-20 westbound near Mile Marker 21 in Carroll County, involved a FedEx tandem-trailer truck and a converted school bus.

Georgia State Patrol spokeswoman Tracey Watson said initial indications are that the bus was traveling in the right lane “at a slow rate of speed” when it was hit in the rear by the tractor-trailer.

“After impact, both vehicles traveled off the right shoulder of the roadway and overturned,” Watson said in an email. “At some point after the crash, both vehicles caught on fire.”

Watson said both drivers were injured. The trucker was airlifted to Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta and the driver of the bus was taken to Tanner Medical Center in Villa Rica.

A left westbound lane reopened to traffic just before 8:30 a.m., but the right westbound lane remained closed for several more hours. Eastbound lanes were open.

Mark Arum in the WSB 24-hour Traffic Center suggested that westbound motorists use U.S. 78 as an alternate.