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Photos: How Atlanta’s Interstate 85 bridge resurrection looks right now

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This 12-lane beast is starting to seem almost passable again

A photo this week of the undersides of Ga. Highway 13 (right) and I-85 at Piedmont Road as construction continues.
The undersides of Ga. Highway 13 (right) and I-85 at Piedmont Road as construction continues.
Photos: Jonathan Phillips, Curbed Atlanta

Five weeks, 61 new horizontal beams, 13 vertical columns, and at least a half-dozen haikus about Interstate 85 later, the most infamous torching in Atlanta since Sherman is starting to look halfway remediated.

Georgia Department of Transportation officials announced this week the collapsed, 12-lane section of the I-85 bridge will be open for Memorial Day travel on May 26 at the latest—weeks earlier than initially expected and less than two months since the bizarre inferno triggered chaos for many Atlanta commuters.

So it seemed like an appropriate time for a closer look at this nearly $17-million, expedited job.

Much of the concrete road decks have been poured, which allows for road surfacing, striping, sealing, and soon, the addition of all concrete barriers at the edge of the crucial highway artery.

More potentially good news: Contractor C.W. Matthews is still aiming for an opening day around May 15 to receive the bonus of $3.1 million being offered for early completion.

For this latest installment of Visual Journeys, have a gander at where things stand now:

Repairs continue on the underside of I-85 at Piedmont Road.
Photos: Jonathan Phillips, Curbed Atlanta
Staging of supplies at the Buford-Spring Connector bridge, near where the notorious/famous inferno started.
A construction worker guides a section of steel rebar as it’s lowered onto I-85 by a crane.
Traffic is down to one lane on Piedmont Road on Tuesday as it crosses underneath Ga. Highway 13 and I-85.
A cement truck weaves its way through the pylons on the underside of I-85.
A cross section of wood, steel, and concrete of the new bridge on I-85 that crosses over Piedmont Road.
A construction worker reaches across scaffolding atop I-85 as work continues on the bridge
Let’s just hope the “Haste makes cracky interstates” adage won’t apply here in years to come.