I-85 bridge near Piedmont Rd Collapses. (Atlanta, Alpharetta: apartment, renting, homes)

[Ghengis]

Originally Posted by bu2

I wouldn't be surprised if "few" meant 18-20.

Its an elevated section.

The 35W bridge that collapsed 115 ft into the Mississippi River in Minneapolis took 13 months to rebuild.

[cqholt]

Will this fast track a discussion on metro-wide commuter rail?

[AnsleyPark]

I understand from the news that the south bound section adjacent to the collapsed roadway will also need significant repair.

[Cameron H]

Originally Posted by Ghengis

The 35W bridge that collapsed 115 ft into the Mississippi River in Minneapolis took 13 months to rebuild.

Eleven months for construction -- I posted a photo upthread. It took two-and-a-half months to begin construction after the collapse. I was living there at the time and, like many people, crossed that bridge twice every weekday.

[AnsleyPark]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Will this fast track a discussion on metro-wide commuter rail?

One would hope so. It's a shame that it takes a calamity for folks to get their heads out of the sand.

[atltechdude]

Originally Posted by JMatl

How about you refresh our memories for us OnyxStation. When was the last binding MARTA vote in Gwinnett again?

Let's not pretend that Gwinnett doesn't have MARTA just because there hasn't been a vote in a long time. The county has been majority anti transit for a long time and a new vote would have surely failed. That's only begun to change recently as the diversity in the county has increased.

[tikigod311]

Here's hoping the CoA and GDOT work together to actually re-time the lights for routes that will be used as alternates. This could help dramatically

But watch how surprised I will be if they just don't...

[No2Monsanto]

That's the thing about living in a crowded metropolises with bad traffic; it just takes ONE, one major thing to go wrong with the infrastructure, and the city becomes crippled in some way. Scary.

[Ant131531]

In times like this, in a lot of ways, it's actually good that Atlanta is not that centralized so many people don't work in central Atlanta so they don't need to take I-85.

[fourthwarden]

Originally Posted by No2Monsanto

That's the thing about living in a crowded metropolises with bad traffic; it just takes ONE, one major thing to go wrong with the infrastructure, and the city becomes crippled in some way. Scary.

I read a book called The Upside of Down as part of my Environmental Securities class (tought by a 'former' CIA analyst, and the head of our college of Global Intelligence and Security). It spent quite a lot of time talking about its theory of how civilizations need excess energy, whether grain or electricity, to be able to absorb systemic shocks, like natural disasters or invasion. If a civilization didn't have that excess, the author posed, then it would fail crumble.

I'm not saying that Atlanta is doomed to a collapse of civilization, but I can't help but draw parallels between the concepts.

Our transportation network is our energy, in this case. We had just enough to make things work. We do not have enough to absorb a major shock to the system without some kind of failure (massive traffic jams). Snowpolcalypse is a great example of the whole system failing at once. I-85's collapse will need to be watched as to whether or not it will be the same kind of example.


We need excess, though we need it in clever ways. More cars will beget more cars, so that's not a great option. Transit is a better use of limited space. Road designs that allow for multitudes of alternative routes without necessarily encouraging more traffic is also a needed feature of our metro. Of course, better build environments that allow for lives without cars is also important.

We'll see how this all rolls out, though, and whether my pessimism about our road network is true.