DECATUR, Ga. – Another major highway through Atlanta was partially shut down on Monday, this one after underground utility work caused the pavement to rise up, break apart and send a passing motorcyclist flying through the air.
While the east-west highway could reopen as soon as Tuesday, the rupture proved to be another headache for Atlanta area motorists already struggling with the collapse of an overpass on a key north-south route.
Witnesses said the motorcyclist was riding in the carpool lane when the pavement suddenly rose up in front of him. Others rushed to his aid. DeKalb County spokesman Andrew Cauthen said he was hospitalized with multiple fractures.
The buckling was caused by a utility crew using machinery to bore a new natural gas pipeline under Interstate 20, authorities said.
DeKalb County police spokeswoman Shiera Campbell said a pipeline being filled with concrete ruptured, and the concrete was forced upward.