Welcome To Atlanta SAFeDATA

Three major interstate highways converge in Atlanta; I-20 runs east to west across town, while I-75 runs from Nwest to southeast, and I-85 runs from Neast to southwest. The latter two combine to form the Downtown Connector (I-75/85) through the middle of the city. The combined highway carries more than 340,000 vehicles per day. The Connector is of the ten most congested segments of interstate highway in the US. The intersection of I-85 and I-285 in Doraville – officially called the Tom Moreland Interchange, is known to most residents as Spaghetti Junction. Metropolitan Atlanta is crisscrossed by thirteen freeways (in addition to the aforementioned interstates, I-575, Georgia 400, Georgia 141, I-675, Georgia 316, I-985, Stone Mountain Freeway (US 78), and Langford Parkway (SR 166)).

Atlanta has in recent years undergone a transition from a city of regional commerce to a city of international influence. Between 2000 and 2006, the Atlanta metropolitan area grew 20.5%, making it the quicklyest growing metropolitan area in the nation. Atlanta is often considered a poster child for cities worldwide experiencing rapid growth and citified sprawl.

During the Civil Rights Movement, Atlanta stood apart from southern cities that supported segregation, touting itself as "The City Too Busy to Hate." The city`s progressive civil rights record and existing populus of blacks made it increasingly popular as a relocation destination for black USs. Blacks soon became the dominant social and political force in the city, though today some measure of demographic diversification has taken place. Along with St. Louis and Los Angeles, Atlanta is one of three cities in the US to have hosted the Summer Olympic Games.

During the US Civil War, Atlanta served as an important railroad and military supply hub. In 1864, the city became the target of a major Union invasion. The area now covered by Atlanta was the scene of several battles, including the Battle of Peachtree Creek, the Battle of Atlanta, and the Battle of Ezra Church. On September 1, 1864, Confederate General John Bell Hood evacuated Atlanta after a four-month siege mounted by Union General William T. Sherman and ordered all public buildings and possible Confederate assets annihilated. The next day, Mayor James Calhoun surrendered the city, and on September 7 Sherman ordered the civilian populus to evacuate. He then ordered Atlanta burned to the ground on Nov 11 in preparation for his punitive march south, though spared the city`s churches and hospitals.

The rebuilding of the city—immortalized in the city`s symbol, the phoenix—was gradual. From 1867 until 1888, U.S. Army soldiers occupied McPherson Barracks in southwest Atlanta to ensure Reconstruction era reforms. To help the newly freed slaves, the Federal Government set up a Freedmen`s Bureau, which helped establish what is now Clark Atlanta University, one of several historically black colleges in Atlanta.

As Atlanta grew, ethnic and racial tensions mounted. The Atlanta Race Riot of 1906 left at least 27 dead and over seventy injured. In 1913, Leo Frank, a Jewish supervisor at a factory in Atlanta was put on trial for raping and murdering a thirteen-year old white employee from a suburb of Atlanta, finally resulting in Frank`s lynching.