Terry: “Now we turn to Stephanie, our W-TRC traffic reporter. How’s it look out there, Stephanie?”
Stephanie: “It’s a pretty typical commute out here, Terry. We’ll start with the roads. Drivers, we have delays due to a crash and car fire on the inner loop of the beltway and a resulting gaper delay on the outer loop. The Thruway is jammed due to a jackknifed tractor-trailer. Authorities are on their way and only the shoulder is getting by at the moment. Expect delays on the interstate as the tolls increased today by 50¢ and the fast-toll lanes are malfunctioning. A tech is on the scene. Watch out as the cross-connector highway is running slowly in both directions; kind of strange for this time of day. Finally, everyone is scrambling over to the local roads due to troubled highways, so the overflow is making them slow.
“On the City Transit Trains there are delays on the North-South line due to unscheduled track maintenance. The East-West lines are also slow due to a water-main break near the tracks. The drivers have turned off the auto-driver program through the wet area, so manual driving is causing delays. And there’s a cracked rail outside the City Center station; they are single-tracking it through there. Riders should also check the City Transit website for a large number of escalator and elevator outages.
“Finally, Bike and Run Commuters, it’s all clear for you. Go get out there.”
Stephanie, I swear I had the same thing on my mind today; you beat me to this post. I crossed three major thoroughfares in Atlanta — Ponce de Leon Avenue; Boulevard; and Edgewood Avenue — and for the first time since Dec. 19, 2011, they were jammed with vehicles, all roaring by in a rush. Easy moving for me, but I wondered: why the return today, Jan. 5? Vacations must be over for parents and kids.
hey Kyle – even running along the sidewalk you can feel the tension coming from the drivers on the road. especially when horns are honked at the rare driver that stops at crosswalks to let me pass. human-powered commuting helps us stay out of that fray!