Building ATL's Interstates Must Have Been A Pain In The Arse

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has cracked open their photo vault to compile sky-high shots of the city for a piece called "Flashback Fotos: Aerial Atlanta, the city from above 1905-1988." It's a compelling look at our ever-transforming region, revisiting eras when the Biltmore seemed like a tall building and Spaghetti Junction was but a simple cloverleaf. (For history buffs stymied by the AJC's paywall, the gallery could be worth the 99 cents single-day price of admission). Particularly mind-boggling is this shot (above) of Interstate 285 construction in 1961. That must have been an incredible undertaking in metro Atlanta, given the thickly canopied and ceaselessly wavy terrain. We'd love to hear from longtime Atlanta denizens who recall what the introduction of interstates — and the titanic construction projects that preceded them — was really like. It's tough to imagine a world without huge highways for sitting on idly and becoming frustrated.
· Flashback Fotos: Aerial Atlanta, the city from above 1905-1988 [AJC]
· Come, Watch Atlanta Morph Through The Decades [Curbed Atlanta]
· All "Visual Journeys" from Curbed Atlanta [CATL]