Actual Factual Georgia
Q: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is called the busiest in the world, but what are the actual stats?
A: If being wedged in the automated people mover rushing to catch a flight on a Monday morning isn’t enough of a sign, here’s the hard and fast data that backs up Atlanta’s spot as the busiest airport in the world. More than 240,000 passengers travel through it every day, resulting in about 89.3 million passengers in 2010. It has been the busiest in terms of passenger traffic since 1998, although passenger numbers have been higher, with about 90 million two years ago. Flights serve 151 U.S. destinations and more than 80 international destinations in 52 countries. That results in nearly 2,700 arrivals and departures daily. Not only does it attract the multitudes trying to get into or out of town, but Hartsfield-Jackson is the state’s largest employer, with more than 58,000 workers. And the passenger numbers are expected to take off again when Southwest Airlines begins to offer low-cost flights out of the airport.
Q: Are there many covered bridges left in Georgia?
A: There was a time when 250 covered bridges marked Georgia’s landscape, but these charming thoroughfares have dwindled. By the 1970s, the Georgia Department of Transportation notes that there were only 25 remaining, and now there’s just 13 of the wooden bridges left. The links to the past in metro Atlanta include Smyrna’s Concord Bridge, which dates to 1872 and received more than $151,000 in repairs through a $1.5 million bridge restoration project that used federal funds to rehab 10 of the bridges; the work was completed in 1999. In Cumming, there’s Poole’s Mill Bridge, which was built in 1901, received more than $280,000 in updates and is adjacent to a community park in Forsyth County. Stone Mountain Park’s covered bridge was built in 1891, but was originally located in Athens (anyone who attended the University of Georgia may remember it spanning the Oconee River) before it was moved to the park in 1965. The DOT’s website – www.dot.state.ga.us/travelingingeorgia (then click on covered bridges) – provides information about Georgia’s covered bridges. Clint Eastwood would be proud to know there’s even a bridge of Madison County in Georgia – Watson Mill Bridge in Comer, about 90 miles northeast of Atlanta. That bridge and the one now at Stone Mountain, among others, were constructed by Horace King and his sons. King was a slave from South Carolina who gained his freedom in 1846.
What do you want to know?
If you’re new in town or just have questions about this special place we call home, ask us! E-mail Lori Johnston at q&a@ajc.com.
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