An excellent article in Politico about why the 2 inches of snow in Atlanta was so disastrous….
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An excellent article in Politico about why the 2 inches of snow in Atlanta was so disastrous….
All the bairns o' Adam 
Some people I have talked to about this subject believe that (certain) people driving are to blame for not thinking things through before going out in those kinds of conditions.
Yep, just like in Fayetteville yesterday morning…
I think the best way to address the situation is to create a better communication system between the mayors of the various Atlanta suburbs and the transportation systems that operate across the region. They could have staggered the times that schools let out and businesses closed to decrees traffic flow. Better communication and cooperation between municipalities will also be necessary to create better transportation networks and emergency disaster relief plans. We can’t undo suburbanization, but we can make it more functional and we can improve inner ring suburbs and the downtown areas, as well as their school districts, to make living closer to work more attractive to people. We can find a way to make a network between the suburbs to make them function like one big city in times of crisis. This system could also make transportation services easier to provide. Perhaps special purpose governments over metro areas to regulate transportation and community disasters could be helpful.
Better communication would certainly help
What most people don’t realize in these situations when it comes to the roads is jurisdiction. For instance here in Fayetteville, the roads are maintained by three different governments: The State, county and city. MLK is the responsibility of the State, Dickson Street up to Arkansas Avenue is the responsibility of the City, and on the edges of the city, some roads are split by city limit boundaries.
The major problem in Atlanta was the storm itself. The forecast was indeed calling for wintry weather in the city. However, South Georgia was supposed to get slammed, which it did. The Georgia DOT has snow removal equipment in the northern part of the state but not the southern. So the state moved all this equipment to the south. When the storm hit, all this equipment was over 100 miles away from the city. By the time the equipment made it to the city, the highways were jammed. The city of Atlanta was not responsible for the interstates and did not have the resources to help, even if it wanted to.
The whole thing was based on bad judgment. The city and state should have just shut down. They knew it was coming and they knew they would have trouble dealing with it.