GA: Monday’s Highway Mishaps Heighten Atlanta’s Transportation Pain

A big rig filled with chemicals overturns before dawn on the Downtown Connector, a highway that police said it shouldn’t have even been on in the first place, leading to yet another morning of gridlock for commuters.

Then before noon, a portion of I-20 in DeKalb County suddenly buckles, turning the asphalt into a ski jump blocking westbound traffic.

The shutdown of two freeways would be bad enough on any day. But Monday’s troubles come just a little more than two weeks after a portion of I-85 came crashing down — the seemingly unlikely result of a homeless man allegedly lighting a fire under an overpass where the state Department of Transportation for years stored cabling that we now know can burn hot enough to level a major bridge.

While the causes of the traffic headaches are each very different, they are feeding a sense of exasperation and disbelief among the city’s weary commuters. And they also underscore how vulnerable the region is to disruptions in its transportation infrastructure.

Read the complete article at http://www.myajc.com/news/local/monday-highway-mishaps-heighten-atlanta-transportation-pain/yRqMAer9lTCH4Y2nUdjQEN/