SOPERTON, Ga. — If you plan on traveling this weekend, you’ll need to plan for extra time if you’re taking I-16 between to go to or from Macon and Savannah.
Crews are making progress to open all lanes of the interstate, but it may take several days before it fully reopens at the Highway 86 overpass.
"We don't have this much traffic around here," said Fredrick Baker.
He’s a Treutlen County native and says the crash created something they aren’t used to seeing – traffic.
“Traffic is unbearable for people here in Soperton,” he said.
But there is an upside. He’s the owner of Baker’s Barbecue and it’s brought in more business.
“The great thing about it is it's bringing business to my small humble business, so I've actually benefitted from it,” said Baker.
The traffic doubled Baker’s commute to work from five minutes to 10 minutes. For drivers like Lynisa Screws, the commute went from 10 minutes to an hour.
"It's crazy for sure, definitely with a small town. It's put everybody in an uproar and so everybody's trying to get to one place and get to another, and it's causing so much commotion,” said Screws.
“Hopefully, like I said, it'll get better in the coming days and things will go back to normal,” said Baker.
Even though one westbound lane opened around 5 p.m. Friday, crews are still working to reopen one eastbound lane.
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