How to fix 280, for good... (Birmingham, Montgomery: house, neighborhood, new construction)

[steveklein]

It's just a tough fix. As others have more or less pointed out on this thread, extending Cahaba Beach Road, or making Sicard Hollow and Grants Mill wider to allow for more traffic will really have minimal effect on 280 traffic. It might allow more homes to be built out in that area, and in Liberty Park without adding too much more traffic on 280... but I don't really see too many alternate ways for people that live in Inverness, Brook Highland, Greystone, Highland Lakes, and Chelsea who want to get to The Summit, Cahaba Heights, Homewood/Mtn Brook, and downtown. That is what is driving the traffic jams right now. Grants Mill, Sicard Hollow, etc. aren't going to change that.

[cooldiver]

I thought it was already fixed.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...TrprTA&cad=rja

The one below is much funnier.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...n0tXQd5kI9jJuA

[Tourian]

I think it is a lot better but I dont live out there anymore so I dont have to battle it every day. However I still frequent the area. Even with more restaurants, the hospital now open and all the shopping centers adding more stores I think it is tolerable. I mean, sometimes you just gotta man up and go to the Summit, no matter what the consequences. We went to Trader Joe's yesterday and while there was the usual crowd and traffic it all went fairly smooth.

The thing is they cant just stop and rest on their laurels. Bayer will put something on their new property, Grandview will grow and more houses will be built. This proposed connection and a new GMR and the proposed flyover will provide some relief and a hedge against future growth.

[CP79]

I dont currently live in Bham but am there regularly for work.

IMO, 280 isnt as bad as people make it out to be.

While traffic sucks, unless theres a wreck or something it usually flows right along.

[preguntas]

Originally Posted by CP79

I dont currently live in Bham but am there regularly for work.

IMO, 280 isnt as bad as people make it out to be.

While traffic sucks, unless theres a wreck or something it usually flows right along.

This is true for the most part. I think it gets a lot of attention because it passes near some of Birmingham's better residential areas.

It could have been a well designed expressway and that did not happen. It could have been a pleasant parkway and that 'almost happened and then suburban sprawl destroyed that possibility.
Frankly, I think that people love to hate US280 more for the ugly commercial clusters south of the beltway, than they actually hate the roadway.


If nothing else, it is well maintained. (no potholes)

[Tourian]

Originally Posted by preguntas

This is true for the most part. I think it gets a lot of attention because it passes near some of Birmingham's better residential areas.

It could have been a well designed expressway and that did not happen. It could have been a pleasant parkway and that 'almost happened and then suburban sprawl destroyed that possibility.
Frankly, I think that people love to hate US280 more for the ugly commercial clusters south of the beltway, than they actually hate the roadway.

If nothing else, it is well maintained. (no potholes)

Yeah, I don't think I've ever seen a pothole on it. It also appears that all the smart lights have had time to learn and adapt with some manual tweaking and self learning on their own that there have been less complaints and fiery deaths.

[preguntas]

Originally Posted by Tourian

Yeah, I don't think I've ever seen a pothole on it. It also appears that all the smart lights have had time to learn and adapt with some manual tweaking and self learning on their own that there have been less complaints and fiery deaths.

I had not thought about that. The signal system is definitely working well, all along the route, since the Michigan turn back conversion.

[ashpelham]

I've always wondered why they didn't tear out that silly grass median that still exists in some places, and make this thing have some reversible lanes? More going West in the morning, more going back east in the evening. I've seen that work with high congestion multi lane highways in other cities (Charlotte), when there was literally no more room to widen the highway.

Thing is, the thing is already the way it is. Kudos for the interchange alterations they made, because it does help, and it shows an effort to make things work.

Tip to me: never buy a home in the 280 corridor!

[jero23]

I still feel they should just limit the access along US 280 and make all of the intersection into interchanges with access ramps. The Michigan Left turn lanes are just another temporary solution for the corridor. The Michigan Left lanes would be better long term solution for a road like US 31 where there is a paralleling expressway (I-65). From a technical standpoint, US 280 future is basically becoming a limited access expressway since it is a major arterial that connects Downtown with the southeastern suburbs. From a broader perspective, it is a major corridor that connects Birmingham with Columbus (GA) via Auburn-Opelika along the way.

[preguntas]

Interchanges thirty years ago would have worked wonderfully. But let's zip forward to now. You can write about Huntsville's Memorial Parkway, (parkway it is not) or Independence in Charlotte, in almost all cases, retrofitted limited access kills businesses and leaves blight. New businesses continue to build and seek locations on US280. It is too woven into the communities through which it passes to completely limit it now, to the extreme some suggest. Controlled access as opposed to limited access is the way to go with this sort of road. And this is being proven across the country. (I do want to point out I am all for expressways where they exist or where they can be built into a community that has not yet developed beyond being able to absorb one)


And actually the present improvements by the state were said to be temporary at the time. If the next projects do as well as this it will be a success. Many cities across the country have adopted some of these new approaches instead of slam an expressway through peoples communities. Detroit has a great east/west road across the whole north side of the city that uses Michigan turn backs and it is one of their more prosperous new areas.


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I suspect when the state and Jeffrey Bayer reveal their plans in the Summit area we will be seeing 280's future.