In January 2014, Atlanta was brought to a complete standstill by just two inches of snow. Highways froze solid. Thousands of cars were abandoned. Children slept overnight in schools. Parents walked miles to reunite with their families. Emergency vehicles couldn’t move. A modern American city collapsed, and it wasn't because of a hurricane, but because of winter weather so routine, it barely would have canceled school if it had happened anywhere else.
In the latest episode of RCR Stories, I'll tell you the catastrophic tale of the Atlanta Snowpocalypse, a transportation disaster that exposed the hidden fragility of car-dependent cities. When everyone drives, everything works. That is, until it doesn’t. And when cars and systems fail, they don’t fail gracefully.