Spring Street Viaduct Project Begins Today

A massive construction project that will demolish and rebuild a decades-old viaduct in the city of Atlanta will begin work on Tuesday, causing traffic detours that are expected to last for years.

The Spring Street Viaduct and surrounding streets will be closed until 2016 while crews knock down the 1920s era structure and replace it with a modern span. The joint Georgia Department of Transportation and City of Atlanta project will take 36 months to complete and cost $20.6 million, FOX 5 Atlanta reports.

The first phase of the project will see crews demolish the northern section of the viaduct, then rebuild the span so modern trucks and buses can use it. The process will then be repeated on the southern part of the viaduct.

Spring Street will be closed between Dr, Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive by the Sam Nunn Atlanta Federal Center and Marietta Street. Motorists can use either Centennial Olympic Park Drive or Forsyth Street to avoid the bridge project and come out on to Spring Street near Centennial Tower. Motorists can also use Marietta and Forsyth streets as a corridor to avoid the affected portion of Spring Street.

The Georgia Department of Transportation has produced an aerial detour map which will give drivers a better idea of where the detours will be set up. Detour signs will also be posted prominently along the route.