Story highlights Incidents similar to Atlanta's highway collapse have occurred elsewhere in recent years

Collapses in Oakland, Birmingham, and Oklahoma took months to fix

(CNN) Back in January 2002, a tanker truck driving on a busy highway junction in Birmingham, Alabama, crashed into a bridge overpass and exploded.

The heat from that fire melted the overpass and caused it to sag to an unsafe level, forcing officials to close the three major highways that connected in that junction and snarling traffic for the region.

Just 53 days later, the overpass had been removed and replaced. Traffic went back to normal.

That incident, although 15 years old, could represent a general time frame for how long residents of Atlanta should expect to wait until Interstate 85 reopens.

A fire that started underneath one section of I-85 Thursday evening just north of downtown led to the collapse of all five northbound lanes, shutting down traffic on one of the Southeast's major thoroughfares. Officials said Friday both the north and southbound lanes will be closed until repairs are made, which could take "several months."

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