Judy Mellichamp could see the parking lot next to her office building across from Centennial Olympic Park Monday morning.

Problem was, she couldn't get to it: police had put up metal barricades, closing off Walton Street and access to her space.

Johnny Crawford/AJC (ENLARGE)

This giant yellow crane blocked a section of Marietta Street Sunday as workers used it transport materials to repair skyscrapers in downtown Atlanta. This area suffered major damage after the storms Friday and Saturday.

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So, she she took matters into her own hands.

"I moved them myself," said Mellichamp, who labors in a law office. "How else are you supposed to get to work?"

All around downtown, Atlantans did what they had to on the first weekday after Friday night's tornado which broke buildings, crushed cars and left a river of rubble in its sinewy path of destruction.

They steered their cars left, then right, then left again — whatever — to get around damnable street closings that made for a long, slow commute. They maneuvered around and eventually climbed over yellow security tape barriers to get inside office towers, restaurants and stores. They continued to assess property damage, clean up the mess of glass, metal, bricks and wood, and figure out how to put things back to the way they were before a historic weekend of storms.

The city too busy to hate had become the city too busy to wait.

Downtown workers, residents and visitors will have to wait a little longer for everything to get back to normal, but things will be notably better for Tuesday morning's drive in. Atlanta Police said all downtown streets would be open except for Marietta St. between Andrew Young International Blvd. and Centennial Olympic Park Dr., and Andrew Young between Peachtree St. and Spring St. Those closures could continue "for a few more days," police said.

Some traffic lights will still be on the blink, police also warned, and some streets in East Atlanta, Cabbage Town and Vine City, which were also hit by the tornado, will remain closed.

Those who drove in to downtown Monday found that traffic creeped. Jason Summers was able to stop his vehicle on Marietta Street en route to the Hurt Building long enough to snap some photos of the damage.

"I'm just trying to figure out which roads are open," he said.

Drivers blocked from their usual parking lots were told by police to keep moving and to find alternatives. That wasn't always easy.

"There's nothing I can do to help them," said parking lot attendant Mulugeta Kadan, tightening the wall of red cones before him as he waved off another frustrated driver. "We're full."

Footmobile was the preferred mode of transit, certainly among the gawking set. Armed with digital cameras, they scavenged the ruins taking cheesey snaps. A group of CNN workers posed in front of a car smashed by fallen bricks.

Hardhats were the trendy headpiece among those not merely curious. Roofers, plumbers, electricians and tradesmen of every sort prowled about in company vans, eyeballing twisted metal, dangling wires and broken windows. An agent for Travelers Insurance busily filled out a report on an Acura MDX that sat destroyed in a lot.

A half-dozen or more contractors studied The Tabernacle, the historic concert hall which suffered immense damage.

Business didn't stop, though. The CNN Center food court reopened. Ted's Montana Grill, where employees worked through the night after the tornado to reopen Saturday, saw a solid lunchtime crowd.

Megan Dudley, a Ted's employee, was still amazed as she stared at the damage.

"It's crazy that it's in downtown Atlanta," she said. "That doesn't happen here."

For all of the inconvenience caused by the storm, downtown habitues mostly considered themselves fortunate on their first day back on the job.

Attorney Don Keenan counts himself among that group, even with intermittent power outages and traffic and parking miseries.

Keenan's building opposite Centennial Olympic Park wasn't harmed and his Mercedes, parked in a nearby lot Friday night while he was out of town, miraculously escaped the fate of other vehicles, but for a scratch or two. Most importantly, a co-worker who was in the building when the tornado swept through wasn't injured.

Noting his heritage and the calendar's turn to March 17, Keenan paused and said, "Luck of the Irish."

Mellichamp was feeling better, too, once she learned that most of downtown would be reopened to traffic for Tuesday.

"It's good news," she said, "that we'll get our street back."

Staff writers Ken Sugiura, Eric Stirgus, Michelle Hiskey, Mike Morris, James Salzer and Ariel Hart contributed.