Rant: The day the I-85 closure turned my 20 minute drive into a 2 hour nightmare

This was a few years back, but I still remember it clearly. I was heading from Midtown to Decatur for a meeting, which should have been a quick trip. Then I heard about the fire and the bridge collapse on the radio. Every side street and alternate route was just a parking lot of red brake lights. I sat in my car on Ponce de Leon for what felt like forever, watching my meeting time come and go. It was one of those moments where you really see how connected everything in the city is. Has anyone else had a simple Atlanta plan completely wrecked by one unexpected event like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

xena_rivera6321d agoOG Member

A twenty minute drive turned into two hours? That's insane. I remember the news about that fire but I never had to drive through it. Sitting there watching the clock must have been maddening. It really shows how one broken link can stop the whole city.

elliot60721d ago

Oh man, that whole thing was wild. I read a long article about it later that talked about how many thousands of cars had to find a new path all at once, and it just broke everything. @xena_rivera63 is totally right about one broken link stopping the whole city, it was like watching a gridlock domino effect. My coworker lived over there and she started just working from home for weeks because the guesswork on commute time was impossible. It really showed how we're all just trusting that one big piece of concrete won't fall down.

nina_sullivan6111d ago

Totally feel that. After our local overpass got red tagged, I learned to check the city traffic map before even brushing my teeth. Having a backup route that uses surface streets, even if it looks longer on paper, saved me more than once. Packing extra water and a phone charger became non-negotiable for any drive. It’s crazy how quickly a normal trip turns into a survival test when the main road vanishes.