ACR B767 FLC OBSERVED AN ATR72 ACFT XING RWY WHEN ON TKOF ROLL. B767 FLC DETERMINE THEY WERE AT A SPD TOO FAST FOR SAFE ABORT; AND CONTINUED TKOF. ATR72 PIC DISCUSSED INCIDENT WITH TWR CONFIRMING THEY HAD XING CLRNC. ATR72 PIC DETERMINED CTLR DISTR BY OTHER TASKS; NOT REALIZING THE CONFLICT.

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PER ATIS INFO AT XA53Z; ACFT #1 WAS PLANNED FOR TKOF ON RWY 9R IN ATL. THIS WAS DUE TO RWY 9L BEING NOTAMED CLOSED NIGHTLY. HOWEVER AT XD55Z; ACFT #1 WAS CLRED TO TAXI TO REOPENED RWY 9L AND RWY 9L WAS ENTERED IN THE FMS. AFTER SHORT TAXI AND WHILE ON TXWY M; APCHING THE END OF RWY 9L; TWR CLRED US 'POS AND HOLD' ON RWY 9L. WHILE STILL TURNING INTO POS; WE WERE ISSUED 'ACFT #1; HVY; FLY HDG 095 DEGS; CLRED FOR TKOF RWY 9L.' I XFERRED CTL OF THE ACFT TO THE FO AND WE STARTED TKOF ROLL. I MADE '80 KTS THROTTLE HOLD/ENG INSTS CHKED' CALL AND WAS OBSERVING ENG TEMPS WHEN FO NOTED 'WHAT'S THAT?' LOOKING DOWNFIELD; OUR AIRSPD WAS BTWN 105-120 KTS WHEN I SAW AN ATR XING AND CLRING OUR RWY; APPARENTLY DOWN AT TXWY S. HE WAS OBVIOUSLY CONCERNED ABOUT US AS HE QUERIED THE TWR IMMEDIATELY TO CONFIRM HE HAD BEEN CLRED TO CROSS RWY 9L AND TOLD THEM THAT THERE WAS A B767 BEARING DOWN ON THEM. I JUDGED BY HIS SPD CLRING THE RWY THAT WE WOULD HAVE SEPARATION BY THAT POINT AND OUR CURRENT HIGH SPD WOULD HAVE CAUSED A RISKY ABORT; SO I CONTINUED TKOF; ESTIMATING OUR HORIZ CLRNC AT ABOUT 75 FT. TWR CONFIRMED THE ATR XING CLRNC; BUT SOUNDED SOMEWHAT CONFUSED AND ASKED THE ATR TO CONFIRM HE WAS CLR OF THE RWY. IT IS ONLY OUR GUESS BUT WE FEEL HE MAY HAVE RECEIVED HIS XING CLRNC BEFORE OUR TKOF CLRNC BECAUSE WE HADN'T HEARD IT. WE FEEL THAT THE CTLR'S MIND SET WAS STILL ON THE PREVIOUS RWY 9R ONLY OP AND POSSIBLY THE ATR HAD BEEN GIVEN XING CLRNC AS HE EXITED RWY 9R. WE WERE; IF NOT THE FIRST; AMONG THE FIRST TKOFS ON NEWLY OPENED RWY 9L. CONTRIBUTING FACTORS: CHANGE OF ATIS AND RWY OP. NIGHT; 4 MI VISIBILITY. OUR L WING LNDG LIGHT INOP ON MAINT CARRY-OVER. SLIGHT UPHILL SLOPE RWY 9L FOLLOWED BY SLIGHT DOWNHILL SLOPE FURTHER DOWN. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 414402: AFTER LNDG ON RWY 9R WE WERE CLRED TO CROSS RWY 9L AT TXWY S AND CONTACT GND ON THE OTHER SIDE. AS WE BEGAN TO CROSS RWY 9L; I NOTICED WHAT I THOUGHT WAS AN ACFT IN POS ON RWY 9L. THE ACFT WAS IN FACT IN A TKOF ROLL. AS WE CLRED RWY 9L THE ACFT WAS APPROX 3000 FT FROM OUR POS. AFTER XING; WE ASKED TWR TO VERIFY WE WERE CLRED TO CROSS RWY 9L. HIS RESPONSE WAS 'AFFIRMATIVE; YOU ARE ACROSS AREN'T YOU?' OUR RESPONSE WAS 'AFFIRMATIVE; WE ARE NOW; BUT THERE WAS A B767 IN A TKOF ROLL AS WE CROSSED.' TAXIING IN; WE WERE INSTRUCTED TO CONTACT THE TWR VIA TELEPHONE. I CALLED THE TWR BY PHONE AND THEY WANTED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED. I EXPLAINED THE ABOVE INCIDENT AND THEY SAID THEY WOULD LOOK INTO IT. THEY DID VERIFY AGAIN THAT WE WERE 'CLRED TO CROSS RWY 9L.' SINCE WE WERE LOOKING AT THE ACFT ON TKOF ROLL THE ENTIRE TIME WE WERE XING RWY 9L; I DO NOT FEEL SAFETY WAS COMPROMISED. HOWEVER; THIS SIT MAY HAVE HAD A DIFFERENT OUTCOME IF THE RVR WAS 1800 FT. THIS SIT WAS APPARENTLY CAUSED BY THE AIR TFC CTLR ISSUING US A XING CLRNC AFTER HE HAD CLRED ANOTHER ACFT FOR TKOF. THE CTLR DID SEEM TO BE PREOCCUPIED WITH ANOTHER ACFT ON THE GND WHO WAS BLOCKING A HIGH SPD TXWY. WE NEED TO CONTINUE TO BE DILIGENT IN GUARDING AGAINST THE HUMAN ERROR TO AVOID POSSIBLE DISASTERS.