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Vol. XXV • No. 22
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Crews Accelerate Effort to Replace Sandy Springs Bridge The Mount Vernon Highway bridge over Interstate 285 in Sandy Springs, Ga., will remain closed until 2024 after a tractor-trailer carrying an excavator crashed into it in late September, significantly damaging the bridge beams. Structural evaluations of the bridge were concluded the next day, when it was determined that five of the bridge’s six beams were too heavily impaired to reopen and required replacement, the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) told the Atlanta JournalConstitution. Natalie Dale, a spokesperson of the state agency, initially told the newspaper that Mount Vernon Highway would not reopen to vehicle or pedestrian traffic until summer 2024. “Safety of the traveling public is paramount in all Georgia DOT decisions,” she explained. “GDOT is working with the contractor and evaluating all viable options to advance the current project timeline.” A few days later, Sandy Springs Mayor Rusty Paul announced that GDOT crews would accelerate construction of the new bridge, although it still will take many months to complete, according to Rough Draft Atlanta. “We had a truck driver who took a million-dollar piece of equipment, turned it into a battering ram, and we’re left to pay the consequences for a while,” Paul said during an Oct. 3 Sandy Springs City Council meeting. Authorities closed the bridge and the westbound I-285 lanes below after the truck clipped the overpass around noon on Sept. 27, snarling traffic during the evening commute. The damaged portion was secured overnight to prevent debris from falling onto the interstate, and all lanes of westbound I-285 reopened before dawn the next morning.
The Georgia Department of Transportation determined that five of the six beams of the Mount Vernon Highway bridge over Interstate 285 in Sandy Springs, Ga., were too heavily impaired and needed to be replaced after a tractor-trailer carrying an excavator crashed into it in late September.
see BRIDGE page 4
Zoo Atlanta Begins Construction On Rollins Animal Health Center
Mayor Andre Dickens and other officials and guests attend the July 27, 2023, groundbreaking of the Rollins Animal Health Center.
Zoo Atlanta began construction on a new $22 million veterinary complex, the Rollins Animal Health Center, with a ceremonial groundbreaking in late July. In its newest phase of transformation, Zoo Atlanta said in a news release that the veterinary complex “will redefine standards of excellence in zoo animal medicine, state-of-the-art technology, research and academic partnerships.” Work is already ramping up on the zoo’s veterinary complex, designed to be a hub for zoo animal medicine, research and academic partnerships. The construction, funded in part by a $3 million investment from the Gary W. Rollins
Foundation, led Zoo Atlanta to name the facility after Rollins, announced Raymond B. King, the animal habitat’s president and CEO. Prior to beginning construction, officials with Zoo Atlanta had already raised nearly $21 million toward its funding goal for the vet facility. In addition to the gift from the Rollins Foundation, donations of $1 million or more came from the Lettie Pate Evans Foundation, the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, A Friend of the Zoo, the Marcus Foundation, the Sara Giles Moore Foundation and The Zeist Foundation. see ZOO page 2