Rocks less than bridges in downtown Atlanta exactly where homeless slumber

ATLANTA — If you drive together the Downtown Connector, you will in many cases see homeless camps under the bridges and overpasses. 

The Georgia Department of Transportation is performing a thing to deter them from environment up camps in condition appropriate-of-way, they reported. 

You will now recognize that in its place of tents, there are big boulders and rocks beneath the bridges. 

“We are inserting the rock to reduce resettlement in the best-hazard areas of our appropriate of way,” they said in a statement to 11Alive. 

They stated camping below the bridges is in opposition to Ga legislation and can present a security hazard. 

“With the onset of colder weather, the probability of fires staying established is increasing, which only compounds the dangers to human beings and infrastructure,” the assertion claimed. 

Just one region where by the boulders are is below Interstate 20 in the vicinity of Pryor Avenue. 

In 2017, a significant hearth beneath I-85 established by a man who was homeless prompted the full roadway to collapse — leading to massive detours close to the metropolis though crews worked to rebuild the highway. 

For the duration of a 7 days span in January of this 12 months, three fires were claimed below bridges, two ended up connected to homeless encampments, officers stated. 

On Jan. 23, a fireplace broke out less than the highway close to the Buford-Spring connector, extremely near to the 2017 fire. The 7 days prior, there was a small fire under a bridge in that exact same region, which appeared to be established by a homeless encampment. And then days prior to that, two people today who had been homeless obtained into a fight and set just one of their belongings on fireplace at Lindbergh and I-85. 

In January 2019, two years immediately after the I-85 bridge collapse, a hearth in the same area gave motorists a disturbing reminder of that notorious function. Just just after midnight, crews were being battling flames underneath the bridge. 11Alive’s cameras captured the superior flames. 

GDOT said they have been doing the job with the Metropolis of Atlanta and its outreach associates, “who can provide needed means to safely and securely and humanely give housing selections as they turn into readily available.”

Since last yr, the Gateway Homeless Middle mentioned there’s been an raise in homelessness of pretty much 30 % in Atlanta. 

An group, just previous month, mentioned they hope to have 800 unsheltered homeless off the downtown Atlanta streets and in housing by December, and an included 1,200 Atlanta homeless in flats by the conclude of following 12 months.