Atlanta doesn't play well with bad weather

[Lonestar]

Have you guys ever seen "The Walking Dead"?

There's a certain Georgian Polytubby ( ) who's claiming that Atlanta's especially bad traffic and sprawl, which is "the worst in the country" is to blame(first page of results for "worst traffic in the country" all place DC at the top, by the way) and not the incredible piss-poor emergency management of the ATL region governments.

"Let's wait until the middle of the workday then shut everything down at once putting hundreds of thousands of cars on the roads at the exact same time".

[Dinner]

In fact one could say Atlanta is totally worthless. That's no surprise as southerners are all ****stains.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Yes, the sprawl is mostly to blame (along with iced over roads - in a hilly area, that's no fun at all, the road grades wouldn't be allowed up north where it snows more often). People are mocking Atlanta for the jams due to 2 inches of snow, but would also have mocked the city for closing everything down for 2 inches of snow - and the city has been pilloried in the past (including earlier this January) for closing schools and government buildings for potential snow that never materialized (which has happened more than a few times since the last time it actually snowed in Atlanta - 3 years ago). A staggered release may have worked better, but when you have over 150 municipalities in the Atlanta metro area, that's going to be ridiculously hard to manage.

Heck, we had folks in our office (including a co-worker from Maine) who were loudly mocking and laughing at the Federal Center for closing at 11 AM (shouts of "I think I saw a flurry" followed by laughter were ringing out in the hallway). It was very much a problem of 'boy who called wolf' for many people, and meteorologists who played down the snow and ice (we actually got out at 11 AM because there were reports that the snow was coming down much quicker and harder than was expected in the Northern burbs).

[Dinner]

Imran is gay. We all know that to be true.

[Lonestar]

Yes, the sprawl is mostly to blame (along with iced over roads - in a hilly area, that's no fun at all, the road grades wouldn't be allowed up north where it snows more often).

No, it's the piss-poor emergency management on the part of the ATL region governments. You guys have bad traffic, but DC consistently beats you out for commute time-unsurprising when you have so many people commuting from places like WV, Fredericksburg, or even PA and DE. And when we had a event like you did yesterday, it was because OPM dropped the ball big(of course, when it happened a few years ago we had substantially more snow than you did).

People are mocking Atlanta for the jams due to 2 inches of snow, but would also have mocked the city for closing everything down for 2 inches of snow

You would have been mocked less than what happened yesterday. The ATL governments knew that they didn't have the plows and crews to keep the roads clear/treated, and they chose to make a roll of the dice and artifically create a city evacuation in the middle of the workday. Instead of manning up and admitting that it was a problem because of the local governments activities, or themselves for pressuring the governments to not take the correct course of action, people are opting to blame it on sprawl or racists(according to that politico article you posted).

If regional transportation planning was actually as broken as some people are claiming, we would have been seeing this much more frequently. Instead we see it when the various city/county managers ignore what their emergency management advisors are clearly telling them(since they closed shop in anticipation of snow before).

Also,

but when you have over 150 municipalities in the Atlanta metro area

And every single one of them has their own school District, or utilities district? Come off it.

[Colon™]

Is it worth it watching Walking Dead? I think I'd find it interesting if it goes a broader than the regular zombie flick. Political, socio-economic etc.

[The Mad Monk]

I think the main issue is simply that there is no economical justification for spending money on the sort of equipment and infrastructure on events that may not even happen for years at a time.

That, and the fact that everyone is far too reliant on cars to get around.

Reed said "a lot of people" were still stranded on highways Wednesday morning, but he was not certain how many. City bus service was shut down, and people waited in vain on icy train platforms for trains that were late or never arrived.

There's a reason for that.

[Imran Siddiqui]

If regional transportation planning was actually as broken as some people are claiming, we would have been seeing this much more frequently. Instead we see it when the various city/county managers ignore what their emergency management advisors are clearly telling them(since they closed shop in anticipation of snow before).

How often do you think it snows in Atlanta? 3 years, it was "Snowpocalypse", but thankfully that snowfall came overnight (of course it did close down the city for 3-4 days). The last time it snowed during the day was in 1982, and it was super jam packed (its referred to as SnowJam '82 and, yes, people had to spend the night in offices and schools then as well). It's, of course, gotten much more sprawled since then (especially since 1996).

Atlanta's "urban area" is the second largest urban area in the country, after NYC-Newark (and greater than Chicago-Gary).

And while people will try to blame it on Atlanta's mayor or the Georgia's Governor, a lot of people are stepping back and saying, hey wait a second - this is far more complicated than that.

Of course, you had private employers who didn't dismiss folks until it was already started to get crazy.

And, of course, Birmingham, Alabama had very, very similar problems - are we blaming Georgia for that as well

And every single one of them has their own school District, or utilities district? Come off it.

Every county has its own school district for sure, and some of them have more than one. Utilities are likely similar. I know that within the Perimeter (which was fine in a few hours, FWIW), you have Atlanta Public Schools, Fulton County Schools, Dekalb County Schools, City of Decatur Schools. Most of the issues occurred on the Perimeter, or on the highways heading out (mostly I-75 and highways off of it - due to that part of town being fairly hilly) - which encompasses about 3-4 counties (Georgia has the 2nd most counties in the county, after Texas, and the counties are super powerful compared to other states).

FWIW, those schools were dismissed at different times - APS was 1 PM, City of Decatur Schools were 2:30 PM, etc.

[Sava]

2.5 inches

Atlanta is a bunch of pussies

[Uncle Sparky]

Is it worth it watching Walking Dead? I think I'd find it interesting if it goes a broader than the regular zombie flick. Political, socio-economic etc.

I haven't seen any of the current season, but enjoyed the first 2.

2.5 inches

Atlanta is a bunch of pussies

I don't think most pvssies would even notice 2.5 inches.

[Hauldren Collider]

Lonestar acting as if the DC government is any better

[-Jrabbit]

This happens on the semi-regular, and cities/states in the mid South are pretty uniformly unprepared for it. They don't own proper plows, nor do they have salt or sand on hand. I remember this happening in Nashville a few years back for even less snow. But it's usually an ice storm, not the snow, that creates the havoc. That, and having a metroplex full of commuters who don't have a clue about winter driving.

Still, as I sit in Chicago expecting another 9 inches by Saturday and more sub-zero to follow, I gladly mock the wusses of Atlanta.

[Sava]

Still, as I sit in Chicago expecting another 9 inches by Saturday and more sub-zero to follow, I gladly mock the wusses of Atlanta.

It also helps to live in a blue state... where not everyone is so convinced government can't be used ever... for anything.


HYUK HYUK LETS LET THE MARKET REMOVE OUR SNOW HYUK HYUK

[rah]

Yep the snow here can only remove a mayor.

[notyoueither]

It also helps to live in a blue state... where not everyone is so convinced government can't be used ever... for anything.


HYUK HYUK LETS LET THE MARKET REMOVE OUR SNOW HYUK HYUK

Brits have similar experiences when they get unexpected snow and ice. There isn't enough need for the expense of the equipment needed to deal with it.