BIG QUESTION: Why is the Birmingham Metro sprawling southward? (Montgomery: apartment, house)

[A&M Bulldawg]

Why is the Birmingham Metro spreading southward faster than in any other directions. Yeah, Birmingham is growing in all directions, but the sprawl is mainly taking place in the south! For instance, Atlanta is sprawling in all directions, quite equally! Better yet, look at Huntsville's metro, which is all spreading in every directions!

[harry chickpea]

Birmingham is a bedroom community for Huntsville, so it is doing what all bedroom communities do, spreading away from the center. Have you ever been to Birmingham?

[A&M Bulldawg]

Thousands of time!!!!!

[Southlander]

I disagree...Atlanta did not sprawl southward nearly as much as northward. I'm sure it had to do with the airport blocking development...the poor state of Clayton County schools...and the fact that the mountainous north is more attractive than the flat south.

[3am green coffee]

For that matter the premise that Birmingham is only growing southward is simply wrong. One only has to look at Trussville to see how wrong. It's as if the question was asked by someone who has never been to Birmingham and is only reading about it on the internet.

[DebFlack]

Originally Posted by KE111691

Why is the Birmingham Metro spreading southward faster than in any other directions. Yeah, Birmingham is growing in all directions, but the sprawl is mainly taking place in the south! For instance, Atlanta is sprawling in all directions, quite equally! Better yet, look at Huntsville's metro, which is all spreading in every directions!

All you have to do is look at the road systems to answer that question- when 459 was built the stage was set for good- it really began with The Montgomery Highway aka US 31- then the HUGE endeavor withThe Red Mountain Expressway, going south and becoming US 280- that project was unbelievably a great feat of engineering alone ! even though some residents above Highland Avenue, Key Circle, (like around Henrietta Dr., etc, we not happy campers because it actually severed the complete east west access, and others)

Also , very wealthy mountain top developments were already solidly in play, like in Mountain Brook area, and the early Vestavia Hills-

But key transportation corridors like Green Springs HWY/US 31, The I65 IN ADDITION to an already very well used North/South I 65 provided very good n/s access to travelers heading to FLORIDA - this was a very new option for Midwesterners heading south, for truckers shipping goods out of the port of Mobile- it was a straight shot in I65 north or south-

"Over the Mountain" was early on considered more desirable for upper middle class- the shops followed- the schools- the other access roads, e.g. Shades Creek Parkway, Oxmoor Road, Valley Road, and even further south in the NEXT county of "Shelby"....."Jefferson County" the county housing THe City of Birmingham, all of a sudden became secondary- then there was a huge expansion of lanes for I 65 - then connectors erupted like Valleydale Road (Cty 17), and Indian Springs Road (aka SR 119) which both connected E/W US 31 south and US 280 south.

Development was spurred also by a few wealthy land owners who speculated early on "over the Mountain" land- including BIG land owners such as US Steel, then later companies and families such as Harbart, and a few yet very powerful Jewish families who were longtime residents of the Birmingham community but flew very quietly under the 'radar' and negative social politics of a southern city- many of whom originated from places like NYC, Philly, upstate NY, Chicago- who in turn were monied and/or heavily financed by Jewish bankers and financiers in places such as NY---some were merchants- some were just carpetbaggers- but carpetbaggers with a ton of money who saw the 'gold' in the land.

Other areas of Birmingham were not so desirable for development dollars at the time (1940s 1950s and especially 1970s)...the west side had too much of an industrial presence---places with Ensley, Bessemer, Midfield etc,. or were considered working class or 'black areas'....areas north like around the Warrior River etc were a bit 'redneck' and unenlightened according to the investors and bankers, and of course to the present holders of property in the hands of a few entitities------also, north of Birmingham (NE) was an airport, and at the time a not very good one-----also, the presence of FREIGHT TRAINS and their corresponding depots and YARDS were all over these areas- crossings everywhere- long trains 'running'- thanks to huge outfits like L&N railroad----- no one wanted to develop suburban areas next to a rail yard, or 'across the railroad tracks'-
it was considered 'the other side' of the tracks ----

'Jones Valley', home to the center of The City of Birmingham also still had smokestack industries-----EVERYWHERE-------no investor saw this as a viable option for the future-------they wanted AWAY from the belching of nasty nasty yellowish and red smoke polluting the sky daily------

White Flight was also a factor. Birmingham now is mostly black..so are many of its politicos---"over the mountain" also served as a barrier for monied whites who had no intention living close to the many negroes they in many cases employed-- it served as a convenient segregationsist/class 'buffer' (Over the mountain area)

So, "Over the Mountain" (south and beyond, not just over Red Mountain, but to Double Oak Mountain) was a very good alternative.

In this regard, the growth of "Birmingham" MSA southward is very much unlike many other cities in suburban growth (which typically gravitates north, and not so much southward)------now, most of Brimingham's real growth, and upscale growth indeed is NO WHERE NEAR the City Limits of Birmingham, it's practically 2 mountain ranges away- and that trend is not going to stop- -


Residing in or around Homewood, Vestavia, Mountain Brook, upper southside, or, Pelham, Leeds, south US 280, Indian Springs, etc etc shall always be viewed a bit differently that having a Bessemer, Trussville, Fultondale, or Gardendale address-----always----no matter how so-called desirable someone tells you they are----the patterns may shift a bit, but it will no reverse-----ever

[RebelPhotog]

Because we have good schools south of B'ham. That may not be the entire reason, but it's a big part of it. It's family-oriented. Shelby County is booming. Only problem is that businesses and subdivisions were developed quickly and the county didn't plan it out well. Traffic is a nightmare here at rush hour. I remember when it used to be easy to get home at 5:00. I heard on the evening news a coupld of years ago that subdivisions went up so fast they ran out of names for the streets here in Shelby County.

[Southlander]

Deb's post is spot-on - good job, Deb!

However...I have to disagree a little bit with your final paragraph. Things can change, and usually do...it may take 30 or 50 years, but they do change.

[A&M Bulldawg]

Will Birmingham continue to sprawl south into it eventually start developing and growing into Chilton County?

[jakabedy]

Originally Posted by KE111691

Will Birmingham continue to sprawl south into it eventually start developing and growing into Chilton County?

Oh, but it already has, pretty much. I have worked with many people who live in Jemison or Clanton and make the drive in to B'ham or at least Hoover/280 every day for work. But there are also folks who live in Dora or Sumiton, Woodstock or Brookwood, Pell City or Springville, who also drive in every day.

I moved to Birmingham in 1987 and rented an apartment on then-4-lane highway 280. After about a year I made a move to Homewood, then Southside, Crestwood, Roebuck Springs, back to Crestwood, old Bessemer . . . I was one of those in-town folks who spoke with derision of the commuters. My friends and I used to joke and say, in a cute accent "we just got a house in Calera, it's not that far, really!" And then we would laugh, laugh laugh. Calera, in our minds, might as well have been Montgomery.

Let's fast-forward 20 years. I'm older, married, with a desire for some property around my house. We looked in Jefferson County, but the prices were just too high. Especially those folks over in McCalla -- do they think their land is gold or something? We found a great place eventually. In unincorporated Shelby County . . .

wait for it . . .

adjacent to Calera. I know. I now describe myself as "part of the problem." Despite the impression that Shelby County is where middle class folks with money live, the property here was less expensive than Trussville, Gardendale, etc. What are you gonna do?