WHILE TAKING OFF ON RWY 9L AT ATL; A B717 FLT CREW SEE AN MD80 XING THE RWY AND ABORT TKOF.

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ONCE CLRED FOR TKOF DEPARTING RWY 9L AND ROLLING AT APPROX 110 KIAS; THE CAPT ASKED ME WHY THERE WAS AN ACFT XING OUR RWY. AT THIS POINT I HAD MY HEAD DOWN SCANNING AND MONITORING THE ENG INSTS AND I SAW AN MD80 XING THE RWY AT INTXN S. I THEN ASKED THE CAPT 'ARE YOU GOING TO ABORT?' AT THIS POINT HE CALLED 'ABORT.' WE WERE FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO HAVE PLENTY OF TIME AND RWY TO REJECT THE TKOF ROLL. WE HAD ANNOUNCED OUR ACTION TO THE TWR CTLR AND WERE INSTRUCTED TO TAXI OFF AT M14. WE CONTACTED GND AND HE HAD ASKED US IF WE HAD REJECTED THE TKOF FOR THE ACFT XING THE RWY; TO WHICH I ANSWERED YES. ON THIS DAY THERE WAS SIGNIFICANT WX FOR THE E GATE DEPS; AND FOR A WHILE THE E DEPS WERE SHUT DOWN. THIS TIME IS PERHAPS THE HEAVIEST PEAK TFC FOR DEPS AND ARRS AT ATL. TO ACCOMMODATE THE HEAVIER THAN NORMAL CONGESTION ON THE TXWYS; ATC WAS STACKING UP THE DEPS FOR THE E GATE ON TXWY N. IN ORDER TO DO THIS; MOST ACFT MUST CROSS RWY 9L. I AM NOT SURE WHY OR WHERE THERE WAS A BREAKDOWN IN COM; BUT IT HAPPENED. I WAS WITH THE TWR CTLR AND CLRED FOR TKOF. THE XING TFC WAS PERHAPS ON GND AND CLRED TO CROSS; OR MAYBE TOLD TO HOLD SHORT. I NOW WILL INCLUDE LOOKING DOWN THE RWY IN MY SCAN ON THE TKOF ROLL AS I USUALLY DEDICATE MY SCAN INSIDE THE COCKPIT TILL V2. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 630345: WE TAXIED OUT TO FIND OUR DEP GATE SHUT DOWN. OUR TAXI CLRNC WAS TO TAXI TO A XING TXWY AND HOLD SHORT OF THE DEP RWY. WHILE HOLDING SHORT; ATL GND CTL CLRED US TO CROSS THE ACTIVE RWY AND JOIN ANOTHER TXWY. THIS PUT US IN LINE WITH THE OTHER ACFT HOLDING FOR THE CLOSED DEP GATE. AS WE CROSSED THE ACTIVE RWY; WE NOTICED AN ACFT THAT APPEARED TO BE SITTING ON THE DEP END. AS WE CLRED THE ACTIVE RWY; WE NOTICED MOVEMENT AND THEN REALIZED; LISTENING STILL TO ATL GND CTL; THAT THE OTHER ACFT HAD ABORTED THEIR TKOF BECAUSE OF TFC ON THE RWY. THEY REQUESTED TAXI BACK FOR ANOTHER TKOF. ATL GND CTL WAS VERY BUSY WITH AN E OP AND THE E DEP GATE CLOSED. LACK OF PROPER COM THE MOST LIKELY CAUSE.