Zombies take over Henry County highway

Ga. 20 near Atlanta Motor Speedway is closed for filming of "The Walking Dead"

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By Mike Morris

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A zombie alert has been posted for a stretch of Ga. 20 in southern Henry County. That’s right, a zombie alert.

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WSB-TV A stretch of Ga. 20 in Henry County was used for a scene in the TV show "The Walking Dead." Here, a wreck was staged on Monday for the movie.

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Traffic is being detoured off the highway in both directions at East Main Street near the Atlanta Motor Speedway for the filming of the AMC television series, “The Walking Dead.”

The detour, which began on Sunday, will be in place through 9 p.m. on Thursday, according to Kimberly Larson, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation.

“We had to put the detour in place for them to be able to stage all the scenes that they needed to throughout that area,” Larson said.

She said that there are message boards, signs, barrels and cones set up to channel motorists through the detour area. The DOT had issued a press release saying the highway would be closed for road work, but Lawson said that was just to deter people from showing up to watch filming.

Chris Lucas in the AM 750 and now 95.5 FM News/Talk WSB Traffic Center said he flew over the detour during the Monday morning commute, and the closure of Ga. 20 was causing no backups.

But Channel 2 Action News reporter Carol Sbarge talked with one motorist who was not happy about the road closure.

“It's a big inconvenience," Demond Williams told her. "I live right off of 20 so for me to go to McDonough, where I work, I have to go all the way around through Clayton, which is extra gas.”

"The Walking Dead," which is filming its second season, is about a sheriff who wakes up in an empty hospital after weeks in a coma, finding himself alone after the world as he knows it was ravaged by a zombie epidemic.

The show is based on Robert Kirkman’s comic book series.

Shot on location in Atlanta, the show’s second season is set to debut in October.

Movie and television filming is a sight metro Atlantans should be becoming used to by now.

Georgia now ranks in the top five states for film and TV production; more than 274 projects have been shot in the state since July 2010, the Associated Press reported.

In addition to "The Walking Dead," projects filmed in the state include "X-Men: First Class," a remake of "Footloose," "The Change-Up" starring Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman, "Wanderlust" with Jennifer Anniston and Paul Rudd, MTV's "Teen Wolf" and the Discovery Channel's "Auction Kings," AP reported.

The economic impact of the filming is estimated at $2.1 billion.