GDOT: Buford Highway bridge undamaged after fire

BROOKHAVEN, Ga. - Buford Highway was reopened just before midnight Monday evening after a fire under a bridge led to an emergency inspection by the Georgia Department of Transportation.

Brookhaven police said Buford Highway was closed south of North Druid Hills Road and north of the 2800 block of Buford Highway due to a fire under a bridge just after 9:30 p.m.

That bridge is over Peachtree Creek. It is not immediately clear how the fire started, but fire officials said it was some type of debris which was on fire. Firefighters were able to put out the blaze without it spreading further.

Traffic was being rerouted along West Druid Hill Drive which connects Buford Highway to North Druid Hills Road for a little over two hours.

GDOT engineers inspected the bridge and said the structure was not compromised by the fire.

There were no reports of injuries as a result of the fire.

This incident comes two weeks after a massive fire under Interstate 85 weakened and eventually led to the collapse of the busy highway; the two incidents being less than two miles from each other.

It also comes a week after a trash fire under the railroad tracks near Cheshire Bridge Road between Piedmont and Lindbergh.

It also caps off a day of traffic headaches after the Downtown Connector was closed down for several hours due to a chemical spill and a portion of the pavement along Interstate 20 buckled after a buildup of pressure believed to be caused by contractors filling in an old gas line.