ATLANTA -- There was an absolute mess on a crowded metro interstate. Thousands of pieces of mail and unopened credit card applications with names and addresses in plain view were scattered all over Spaghetti Junction.

DOT crews cleaned up the mess but then the mail was left unattended for hours.

High above Spaghetti Junction, News Chopper 2 showed the mail mess. A contractor hauling undelivered junk mail from the North Metro Post Office facility in Duluth overturned, spilling envelopes everywhere.

“It was a mess,” said witness Andrea Mallory.

DOT crews worked to clean it up and keep traffic moving. They bagged whatever they could and left it on the roadside for the Postal Service to pick up. They were finished with their clean-up just before noon.

By 1:45, the Post Office had someone at the scene waiting for a crew to pick up the junk mail and take it to be destroyed.

A closer look at the junk mail shows many of the envelopes contained what appeared to be credit card applications completely intact.

The credit card applications were never delivered to the addressee, but they sat on the side of the interstate unattended for at least a couple of hours.

Channel 2’s John Bachman spoke with the post office spokesman. He told us the mail was all junk mail and had no value.