DECATUR, Ga. (AP) - The Latest on the buckling of a major highway in metro Atlanta. (all times local):
5:15 p.m.
Authorities are releasing more details about what caused the carpool lane of Interstate 20 in Atlanta to buckle and break apart on Monday.
Atlanta Gas Light spokeswoman Melissa Clontz says its contractor was working in the area.
Dekalb County Police spokeswoman Shiera Campbell says concrete was being pumped under the highway when a rupture forced the material upward, buckling the pavement.
A man riding a motorcycle in the carpool lane hit the rising pavement at high speed and was sent airborne. He was hospitalized with multiple broken bones.
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4 p.m.
The Georgia Department of Transportation says the buckled stretch of Interstate 20 should be fixed by midday on Tuesday.
Spokeswoman Natalie Dale says repair crews are using ground penetration radar to make sure the area is safe. They’ll work through the night to remove broken pavement, excavate the area where the highway buckled, and repair the road.
Atlanta Gas Light spokeswoman Melissa Clontz says a contractor was working in the area, but the buckling was not caused by nor did it involve the release of natural gas.
A motorcyclist was hospitalized in critical condition after hitting the breaking pavement in the carpool lane at high speed.
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2:30 p.m.
Officials say a motorcyclist was critically injured when he hit buckling pavement in the fast lane of a major highway through Atlanta and was flung into the air.
DeKalb County spokesman Andrew Cauthen says the man was hospitalized with multiple fractures after an underground gas leak caused the HOV lane of Interstate 20 to rise up and split into pieces.
Spokeswoman Sarah Page says all westbound lanes are closed until further notice on Interstate 20 several miles southeast of downtown Atlanta.
Just weeks earlier, a large arson fire allegedly caused the collapse of an overpass on Interstate 85 a few miles north of the center of the largest city in the Southeast.
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1:45 p.m.
Another major highway in metro Atlanta has been closed, this one because an underground gas leak caused the fast lane to buckle.
DeKalb County spokeswoman Sarah Page says the pavement on Interstate 20 buckled in the HOV lane Monday morning, several miles southeast of downtown Atlanta. All westbound lanes are closed until further notice.
WXIA-TV reports the large bump in the interstate is about 3 feet high.
It’s the second time a major highway in the Southeast’s largest city has become defective in the past few weeks. A large fire caused the collapse of an overpass on Interstate 85 a few miles north of downtown Atlanta on March 27.
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