ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - A major artery in Atlanta’s transportation system will partially reopen on Monday. If you’ve driven in the area, you know it’s been a challenge to navigate. Finally, some relief is coming.
On Monday, the Atlanta Department of Transportation will reopen one lane in both directions on the Cheshire Bridge.
The bridge, which sits over the south fork of Peachtree Creek, was badly damaged in August 2021 after a fire under it hit a gas pipeline. As a result, the city decided to demolish it and build a new bridge. The city also said the fire started at a homeless encampment underneath the bridge.
Officials estimated the project would take a year to complete.
Construction was expected to start earlier this year, but crews didn’t begin work until July.
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The city’s department of transportation told Atlanta News First in May they’ve already had crews out at the site.
The countdown is on! After more than a year of being closed, Cheshire Bridge is finally about to partially reopen to two lanes of traffic going in each direction. Drivers will no longer have to make detours to get around! We have a live report at 12. @ATLNewsFirst pic.twitter.com/ftuKi8cL22
— Bridget Spencer (@NewswithBridget) October 31, 2022
Abu Haque has owned a Philly cheesesteak place nearby for 15 years. He says the nearly 15-month closure of the bridge cut sales in half.
“Finally. They make it one year. It should not be one year, it should be maybe two to three or four months because I-85,” said Haque.
Cheshire Bridge is a popular street in the Druid Hills section of Atlanta, less than six miles north of midtown. After the bridge closed, nearby stores and restaurants began seeing a massive decrease in business traffic.
“Some of our customers live over the bridge and they complained to me it’s taking them longer to get to our cleaners,” Tailor’s Cleaners owner Kevin Luu said.
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Luu said his business is down 40% and it turns out, he’s not alone. Scott Duke owns the Taverna Plaka restaurant nearby and he said his business is hanging on by a thread.
Atlanta mayor Andre Dickens was at the bridge Monday at noon to mark the reopening.
“It took away some of my living experience,” said WhoCamille, who lives in a community near the bridge.
“It was hard for Ubers or Lyfts because they would always come to this side and say oh there is a closure. They would have to come all the way around,” she said.
Cross said he hopes the city and ATLDOT can address the concerns that caused the closure in the first place.
“Unless the DOT is going to address people living underneath the bridges, it’s going to happen again,” said Cross.
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