Welcome to "Actual Factual," a column in which I answer reader questions about goings-on in Atlanta. Here's one I did about whether dogs or pets allowed on MARTA trains and buses.
Now that you're familiar, you'll find information for submitting your own questions at the bottom of this column.
Question: A photo of a USPS trailer “parked” on the highway has recently been making the internet rounds. What’s the deal?
Atlanta traffic, ye never cease to amaze.
The weird things that have happened on the city's roads and highways have become a running joke with locals, and in extreme cases, the world (cough, cough, Snowpocalypse and I-85 bridge collapse).
This week, a picture of a United States Postal Service trailer — sans the cab, mind you — began circulating on Reddit, Twitter, the usual places. We had to find out, was the image legit?
We shouldn’t have been surprised.
Atlanta police received a 911 call about a street hazard on the I-75/85 southbound expressway about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday. Which is way too close to rush hour for comfort.
"A tractor hauling the trailer in the photo broke down on Interstate 75-85 near 17th Street,” USPS’s Rick Badie confirmed. “The Postal Service worked quickly to rectify the situation, bringing a new tractor in to move the trailer, which had lost air pressure.”
Police stopped traffic so the trailer could be towed to the side of the highway, Badie said. The trailer was then hooked up to another tractor and continued to its destination.
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By Atlanta's standards, this was a fairly minor incident. Meaning, no one had to give birth in their car because of it.
But that didn’t stop internet folk from having fun with it.
I am a staff writer with the AJC and a lover of Atlanta, my adopted home for nearly seven years after moving to Georgia from Florida. To submit “Actual Factual” questions, contact me at becca.godwin@ajc.com, @BeccaJGGodwin on Twitter or via the form below. Thanks.
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