Advice for Ohioans traveling to Atlanta

ATLANTA — It will take months to rebuild part of Interstate 85 that was damaged in Atlanta on Thursday, and tourist traveling to the area are advised to use I-85 south and the 285 bypass to reach the city, said  WSB Radio Airborne Traffic Reporter Doug Turnbull.

Turnbull flew over the fire shortly after it started Thursday evening.

WATCH: Atlanta I-85 Fire Causes Bridge Collapse WATCH: Atlanta I-85 Fire Causes Bridge Collapse

“I’ve never seen anything like it in my 13 years,” he said. “Smoke was seen from as far as 50 miles away.”

RELATED: Bridge collapse sends commuters scrambling for new routes

Equipment stored under the bridge caught fire, but the cause of the fire is still under investigation, Turnbull said.

“It made one part of I-85 collapse and it compromised the other side of the interstate, so now both sides have to be rebuilt,” Turnbull said.

Each day an estimated 226,000 vehicles use the section of I-85 that was damaged, Turnbull said referring to Georgia Department of Transportation data.

The damaged highway will force more people to use the 285 bypass, Turnbull said.

Crews at work on I-85 collapse Crews at work on I-85 collapse

“That’s already extremely crowded,” he said. “People that are going to be coming through down I-85 for Spring Break that are going to try to go inside the city and be forced on to all these surface streets that are going to be choked up.”

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