Was right in the middle of all this, boys and girls. Had just turned on 85 north from 75 south about 6:10pm (my normal commute to avoid the 285 east cluster**** every evening) and traffic slowed. Inched around the corner and could see the huge black smoke cloud. Inched ahead for a bit, and then stopped. Probably less than half a mile from the fire. Highway sign said closed , and then shortly thereafter collapsed. Waited for a good amount of time, and then everyone was turned around to go south in the 85 northbound lanes to catch 75 north. Pulled into the garage at 9:45pm.
Thankfully no one was injured or killed. That was some great, quick thinking by the authorities to shut everything down, even as I was cursing the highway closure without knowing the situation. Could have been a lot worse if that collapsed with cars still going over it (thank you captain kirk obvious).
This is going to be a massive snarl for the weeks/months ahead. Anytime there's a big time traffic screw-up anywhere in the city, it affects the entire transportation system all over the metropolitan area. There will be gridlock everywhere with everyone who would take 85 spilling over for alternate routes.
From a sporting perspective, the Braves couldn't be more screwed. They have a preseason test run at the new place with the Yankees tomorrow. It was already going to be bad; now it's going to be snowmageddonish probably at best. Welcome to Cobb County, boys.
Another sporting note: there's a volleyball tournament (I think they said Big South on the radio) that's expected to bring 30,000 into the city this weekend. At the same time bunches of people will be trying to make their way south for spring break. Enjoy your visit, y'all!
If there's one good thing that can come from this, it would be a serious look at building a mass transit system that a city of this size needs. Maybe the pain of the next few months makes people wake up to the fact a city this size cannot exist as a motor car only transit option. Probably not, but one can hope...
