Tag: traffic

Their URL says it all

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

ITSMARTA(.com)!!!!!!

You heard it here first.  MARTA is behind all of this shit.  The collapse of I-85.  The chemical spill that crippled the Connector.  The seismic buckling of I-20.  It’s MARTA!

Coincidentally, MARTA riders would avoid the entirety of the chemical spill, as well as the smoldering remains of I-85.  Coincidentally anyone traveling westbound of I-20 would avoid the giant fisting the road decided to give motorists, if they rode MARTA from Indian Creek station into the city instead of driving. 

It just seems a little too coincidental that all these highway maladies are occurring in areas where MARTA would make too much of a logical alternative.

Keith Parker is a diabolical son of a bitch, but this guy right here is one step ahead of you at seeing through your transparent guerilla methods of trying to force increased ridership.  Apps, slogans and “riding with respect” only got so much faith back into MARTA, but once he hit the wall, he’s been forced to bring out the big guns.  Literally, by destroying strategic parts of the Metro Atlanta highway system, and then conveniently waiting in the wings to provide this alternative means of transportation, behind his friendly demeanor and sharply dressed image.

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This is what we call a disaster waiting to happen

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Incentives to rush usually equals incentives for shit work: Georgia Department of Transportation offers up to a $3.1 million dollar bonus to the company responsible for repairing I-85, if they can finish everything up before Memorial Day

Look, I’m all about getting I-85 up and running as quickly as possible.  And my bad on the part of previously saying that it wasn’t going to be done until Thanksgiving, because clearly I tuned out for a little bit and missed where they thought they would get it done by June 15th instead.  Whatever though, it’s not the weekend like the sinkhole was fixed in Japan, so it’s still taking way too fucking long to fix something that should really be fixed even faster than a target date of Memorial Day weekend.

And it’s obvious why Georgia wants I-85 fixed before May 25th, because that’s Memorial Day weekend, one of the heaviest loads of expected traffic all across the nation.  Surely, the loss of I-85 is going to be extremely taxing to I-285 on both sides as people would be forced to use those roads instead of the straight shot through the city itself, which then has a trickle effect on I-20, as well as I-75.  Ironically, those actually in the city of Atlanta itself would probably benefit the most, from prepared drivers not utilizing city proper streets.

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lol Braves #835

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Impetus: Days before the official first-ever Opening Day at ScumTrust Park, where Atlanta traffic will be put to the ultimate test of futility, Interstate 75 is temporarily crippled when a truck carrying boxes of Atlanta Braves foam tomahawks, spills some of its contents onto the highway, forcing closure of two lanes in an extremely congested section the highway

Oh, I can feel the excitement in the air.  The AJC, Atlanta Magazine, WSB, any and every outlet in Atlanta, trying to drum up interest in the impending grand opening of ScumTrust Park.  Trying their best to accentuate the newness of the park, all the things around the ballpark, and doing their best to hide the fact that the traffic will be Snowpocalypse bad, and nothing around the ballpark is actually open.  Not to mention the Braves, who started the season on the road are 1-6 at the time I’m writing this, and are the worst team in the National League and tied for the worst team in the Majors.

Yup, didn’t see any of this coming.

But one thing I didn’t expect to see, but am not the least bit surprised, because “Braves” and “fucking up” seem to go together these days like peas and carrots, was like, a soft opening of shitty traffic, when some boxes of foam tomahawks fell onto I-75 and shut down two lanes in literally the worst possible spot where I-75 and I-285 intersect.

Sure, it was mostly harmless and no foam tomahawk is remotely capable of physically damaging any motorists’ vehicles, but it still provided a nuisance to anyone on the road, and is a nice reminder of the shitshow that the Cobb Braves and their corruption-fueled new ballpark are all about.

IT WAS A MARTA ALL ALONG

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Conspiracy theory alert*: A crackhead was blamed, crooked bureaucrats’ public waste was the fuel, but MARTA lit the match

*this post is tongue-in-cheek (partially), as if I really have to explain myself

One of the snarky observations I made when I heard that the repair of I-85 was going to take until like Thanksgiving, was who stands to benefit the most from this?  And I don’t think I’m entirely wrong with thinking that, because as most Americans know, little is done in the United States for free, regardless of the circumstances behind them, and as accidental as the burning and collapse of I-85 was, someone(s) will undoubtedly walk away from the scenario richer than they started.

From the onset, I would’ve suspected that part of the delay of repairing I-85 would be the extensive time it took for bureaucrats and talking heads to debate, broker and spin deals with crony companies to contract out the labor work for the bridge repair, to see how many people could pad their pockets as much as possible, before any work was actually planned much less executed.  Naturally, these involved parties would the ones who would somehow take a disaster and turn it into a money-making endeavor, regardless of how miserable it’s making citizens and travelers with each passing day with a giant hole in I-85.

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The new and unfortunate normal

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

A major and historical in the worst kind of way thing happened in Atlanta this past week, when an entire block of I-85, well, broke.  A massive fire started underneath the bridge portion of I-85, and for whatever unfortunate reasons, the joints holding up a chunk of the interstate, basically fell off, leaving a sizable and impassable hole in the bridge, severing the stretch of highway that connects Montgomery, Alabama all the way to Richmond, Virginia, going northbound.

The fallout is fairly substantial, and the repercussions of having an impassable chasm are massive.  Anyone going northbound in, or through Atlanta will now have to reroute on either I-75 or just taking I-285 around the city.  GA-400 isn’t accessible going north anymore, because the hole is quite literally right before the exit to 400 North.

Sure, I’ve made plenty of jokes about how the hole basically reminds me of the bridge jump from Speed, or how the fires were basically when Tyrion Lannister used wildfire to blow shit up, and the internet has once again made a mockery of Atlanta and it’s apparent penchant for stupid shit like this.  Fortunately, nobody was hurt and there were no casualties aside from thousands of pissed off commuters, otherwise such might be in bad taste.  However, the reality of the situation is that this is going to be a massive and inconveniencing situation for all of Atlanta, and those who need to pass through Atlanta.

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Apparently the law is kind of a suggestion

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I’ve heard of these bike/ATV swarms that have been seen around Atlanta, and I’m really thankful that I’ve never come across them before.  I’m pretty sure I’d lose my shit if I knew that I was missing several green light cycles at an intersection and be stuck waiting for a swarm of like 200 guys on dirt bikes and ATVs to passing like a bunch of unwanted locusts.

But yeah, these group(s) exist, and it seems like Sundays seem to be the days in which they tend to go joyriding throughout the city, occasionally clogging up roads and disregarding the fact that other people on the roads actually exist and might actually have things they need to go and places to get to in a timely manner.  As I said, I’m lucky to have avoided ever seeing them, much less get stuck in traffic on account of their illegal and selfish behavior, but with that being said, I’m pretty much destined to get stuck in traffic because of them sooner rather than later.

I came across this story about how the City of Atlanta is pondering whether or not they should crack down on them, which seems like a pretty obvious answer, but the fact is that the city doesn’t really know what course of action to take, be it impounding, arresting, destroying or all of the above, not to mention the cost of manpower and resources necessary to enact such a decision.

But the fascinating thing about the article is the accounts of those who are a part of the “club,” and how they (partially anonymously) try to justify their behavior, and how they try to spin in it a manner that what they’re doing is positive for the urban and black community, because when they’re riding, they’re not robbing or killing.

Wonderful justification.

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TRUCKS TRUCKS TRUCKS

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

It’s been a few days since I last allocated some time to write, which is typically something that I’m not a fan of doing.  But things have been busy at work, and even busier at the house, so I haven’t really had a nice chunk of time in which I could throw down some words, much less dick around on the internet to look for things to write about, or even glance at social media.

Being an adult sucks and is depressing, and I very much dislike this feeling of not feeling at home no matter where I am currently.  But like all adverse weather, this storm too shall pass, and eventually things will get back up to a more satisfactory par.  But first, I wish everyone around me at work weren’t sick and carrying the plague into the workplace and I feel like I should propagate Asian stereotypes and start showing up with a surgical mask on, because I actually value my health and have consideration to stay away.

Anyway, when I want to get back into the swing of the written word, I tend to go for low-hanging fruit or easy fluffy things to help jog the mind and the typing into a groove.  And there’s no better things for me to get fascination out of, than trucks full of interesting contents, crashing all over Atlanta highways.

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