The Atlanta metropolitan area is served by three major highways.
Well, it used to be — until last month, when a five-lane section of one collapsed during rush hour and took part of that interstate out of commission.
Monday afternoon, things just got worse. Way worse.
A section of another highway buckled due to an underground gas leak, and now a portion of that freeway is shut down too.
Atlantans, ever-reliant on their cars for even the shortest of errands, are now down to one major undamaged highway — and one major headache.
An underground gas leak
Here are the details as we know them:
Officials shut down all lanes of the westbound section of I-20 Monday morning after a gas leak caused the concrete road to give way.
The pictures are jaw-dropping. It looks like someone took a rod and jabbed the road.
"What a coincidence, another highway decided to explode," wrote Lidia Debas on Instagram, next to a photo of the damaged road. "I wonder what route I'm going to take now."
Authorities didn't say whether anyone was injured.
Crews immediately diverted traffic to I-285. That, if you're keeping count, is the only interstate that's fully functioning.
The other damaged highway
Interstate 285 is already straining under the weight of the additional cars it's had to take on since March 30 since a section of the third highway -- I-85 -- collapsed after a fire broke out under it.
Interstate 85 is a major artery. And Atlantans were slowly beginning to adjust to their new commuting reality when the I-20 incident happened.
Now, many of them will have to revise their plans all over again.
