After I-85 Collapse, Ambulances Plot Alternate Routes
Pixabay Images / WABE
Along with other Atlanta drivers, ambulances will have to find alternative routes to get to patients after Interstate 85 shut down Thursday evening.
Many ambulances use I-85 to get to a number of hospitals in metro-Atlanta, including Piedmont Hospital, Northside Hospital, Atlanta Medical Center, and Grady Memorial.
Metro Health Emergency Medical Services (Metro Health EMS) provides ambulances for patients across Metro Atlanta, including Gwinnett Cobb, DeKalb, and Fulton counties. Mark Kunin, a supervisor for Metro Health EMS, said says his team is already having to find alternative routes.
“That means we’re going to have to either work our way around the city and on the side-streets to get there,” Kunin said. “Or we’re going to have to go down 285 and come in the back way.”
He said I-85’s collapse will definitely affect how quickly they can get to patients and hospitals, but with time, that should change.
“Ambulance services will start mapping out new ways of travel so we’re not caught up in the congestion of Piedmont Road, Peachtree Street, or Northside Drive,” Kunin said.
Kunin’s ambulance drivers will have to be more aware of where they are going and how fast they travel on back-roads, as many of them could be residential, he said. But they will mostly try to make use of I-285 and 400.
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