Like a car struggling up an icy hill, metro Atlanta’s climb back toward life as normal will be slow, uneven and potentially treacherous.
State transportation crews cleared large stretches of the interstates and highways Tuesday, especially along the southern Perimeter, but they cautioned that refreezing was likely overnight.
Ice will also persist on many surface streets, especially the less traveled ones, until temperatures climb and stay above freezing. And that won’t be until at least Friday afternoon, forecasters say.
Tuesday, DOT officials’ advice was emphatic: “All motorists, especially large trucks, are urged to stay off the roads through today. If you must travel, extreme caution is strongly advised.”
School administrators, for one, were listening. All major school systems, including Atlanta, Cobb, Fulton, Gwinnett and DeKalb, will remain closed today, as will most universities.
MARTA officials are still weighing whether to resume bus service today, while Cobb County transit officials canceled bus service.
Delta Air Lines canceled at least 800 flights today originating in Atlanta and the Northeast as the storm moved up the East Coast. AirTran canceled at least 50 flights. The airlines’ efforts to get all passengers to their final destinations could last into early next week.
The silver lining, if there is one, is that little or no additional precipitation is forecast for North Georgia through this week, so the region should escape widespread power outages caused by falling, ice-laden tree limbs.
Already Tuesday, though, work pressures, dwindling supplies and mounting cabin fever were propelling more metro Atlantans onto icy roads and sidewalks — sometimes with bad results.
I-285 along the southern Perimeter became a virtual parking lot in places as motorists and truckers spun out on nearly solid sheets of ice. Major accidents, several involving tractor-trailers, fouled highway lanes and interstate ramps, although authorities reported no deaths or serious injuries.
In Cobb County, most major thoroughfares are in good shape, although people complained of poor conditions on Cobb Parkway, South Cobb Drive and Austell Road, said Faye DiMassimo, director of Cobb’s transportation department. Residential streets are not being cleared, and many problems remain, especially in hilly areas.
Throughout Gwinnett County, cities said they had made significant progress in clearing major roads and will continue to do so today, but they said conditions are expected to improve slightly only later in the week when temperatures rise. And there will be no trash pickup today.
Alpharetta Public Works Director Pete Sewczwicz said some roads have been helped by repeated traffic carving channels through the ice. Unfortunately, he said, those channels may freeze.
In Atlanta, Mayor Kasim Reed said the city had hired private contractors to supplement its road-clearing crews — but was still scrambling, in concert with the state DOT to clear Peachtree, Piedmont, Ponce de Leon, Memorial, Northside and Martin Luther King, all state roads controlled by the state.
“We don’t want people to see these streets and blame one party or the other,” Reed said, adding that the city has cleared 150 of the city’s 200 miles of roads, including all hospital routes. By Tuesday afternoon, sand supplies were running low, but more had been ordered.
DeKalb County, with 2,000 miles of road, two plows and 10 salt/sand trucks, had dozens of roads blocked as of Tuesday afternoon. The worst areas were I-285 near Flat Shoals and Bouldercrest, and I-675 south near I-285.
Motorists should not expect significant improvements until Thursday or later, said DeKalb Police spokesman Officer Jason Gagnon.
DeKalb will reopen its trash transfer stations and landfill today and try to collect commercial trash, but residential pickup will remain suspended.
On Tuesday, DeKalb Police had to pick up 40 employees, including officers and 911 operators, who were stuck inside their homes to bring them to work, police spokeswoman Mekka Parish said.
Shops, stores and big-time businesses are expected to crawl back to normalcy as the week unfolds.
Atlanta’s powerhouse logistics industry — trucks, trains, planes — will retake to the roads, rails and skies, though it could be a few more days before deliveries finally arrive.
Norfolk Southern, which operates a major hub in Atlanta, has run only 25 trains through town since Sunday. Typically, they run 100 a day.
It may not be until week’s end before the city’s hospitality business rebounds. The Atlanta International Gift and Home Furnishings Market, one of the city’s biggest gatherings with an expected 92,000 attendees, gets under way today. Hoteliers reported Tuesday cancellations galore because of travel difficulties.
Although some banks said they might reopen branches today, representatives for SunTrust, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Chase and others encouraged consumers and business customers to use telephone or online banking tools for most banking needs.
Even though many streets resembled skating rinks, some people ventured out Tuesday because they were needed.
“I had a woman call and say she didn’t have any food for her kids,” said Rob Eaves, 39, who works at a Domino’s Pizza franchise in Cherokee County. “I’m going to head out there. If I have to walk it in to her, I will.”
Others fled the confines of home because they simply couldn’t stand being cooped up another minute. “I had to go to McDonald’s to get my sausage and biscuit,” said Brad Shipman, 42, of Union Hill. He then ventured to a gas station — not for gas, but a candy bar.
With at least two more deep-freeze days ahead, metro Atlantans will have to cope with growing frustration and, in some cases, serious distress. And that’s got plenty of people worried.
Hank Bozich, 64, of Ball Ground, is scheduled to have shoulder surgery Friday. Now he’s not sure it will occur. “I don’t know, I’m hoping,” he said.
Others were trying to take the longer view.
“I’d rather have snow than a hurricane or a tornado,” said Hunter Jefferson of Grant Park. “It’s going to melt. I have four cans of SpaghettiO’s in my house. I’ll survive.”
Staff writers Dan Chapman, Patrick Fox, Marcus Garner, Ariel Hart, Katie Leslie, Megan Matteucci, Craig Schneider, Carrie Teegardin and David Wickert contributed to this article.
About the Author