Winter Storm Traffic: Atlanta, DeKalb Become a Parking Lot

Intown Atlanta and DeKalb neighborhoods began seeing falling snow around 11 a.m. Tuesday and it didn’t take long for those same neighborhood streets to be brutally slammed with cars and trucks in bumper-to-bumper traffic.

The early afternoon rush hour, which on this wintry day began around around 1:30 p.m., spared no parts of the the metro area. From Decatur to Cascade, from Brookhaven to the Old 4th Ward, and all points in between, metro Atlanta’s normally dreadful traffic was a by all definitions a complete disaster as thousands of people ventured into their vehicles to traverse through the inclement weather.

With school systems dismissing early, the streets were flooded with busses and parents in cars attempting to retrieve children at the same time many businesses were releasing their employees early from work.

The result was traffic crawling everywhere. Peachtree Street, Northside Drive, Ponce de Leon Avenue, Clairmont Drive, Buford Highway, Camp Creek Parkway, and interstates - you name the street and it was filled with traffic congestion.

Everywhere motorists turned, they were met with red brake lights, as with more snow and sleet forecasted in the late afternoon and early evening, folks were intent on arriving at their destinations by car – no matter how long it would take them.

The panic to get there only led to worsening traffic conditions everywhere, and basically made Atlanta and DeKalb one large parking lot. (albeit one where the vehicles did progress forward ever so slowly) 

Were you caught up in the traffic disaster Tuesday? Seriously, how bad was it?