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Old 08-10-2014, 10:55 AM
 
462 posts, read 719,997 times
Reputation: 427

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The Parkway is just an awful road for accessing businesses, and a substandard 50 MPH "freeway" to boot. It does nothing well. The Weatherly overpass is like the Great Wall of China and killed what ever was left of Haysland Square. I can't imagine that it is cheap to maintain either.

The few "bright spots" along the road are mostly illusion. Parkway Place gets a lot of access from Drake, Bob Wallace and L&N. I never enter there from the Parkway. The new Wal-Mart is facing Drake, not the Parkway. Even the stretches without overpasses are hard places from which to reach businesses, since they are 6 lanes in dense traffic all day long.

Kroger is still kicking, but the KFC and Wendy's in front of it relocated elsewhere. I don't know what they are going to do with the old SCI building next door. Staples is the only store in Haysland that seems to have lasted more than 15 years. I think this is because most of its business is delivery-based. It's just a glorified shipping warehouse with a few in-store customers every now and then. The Home Depot + Lowe's area is pretty busy, as is Sam's club, but Lowe's doesn't face the street and Sam's is far off on its own road. Radio Shack in Hamilton Square is a stalwart, and Cici's gets some business. The north end (Haysland) is a dump. It's an eyesore really.

The most surprising death to me is the "old" Winn-Dixie shopping center. It seemed to die shortly after it was built. I remember applying for a job there when it opened in 1995. There was a Movie Gallery there for a bit, and Taco Bell moved down from where it was North of Haysland Square. Walmart hopped from Haysland to a standalone building just North of this Winn-Dixie center, and seemed to keep the area alive. It did not stay there long, however, as a new Supercenter was built in 1996 between English Village and Farley. That area is so far south that it almost serves as Lacey's Spring's Walmart.

I think the biggest change was adding lanes and making the road less business-friendly. Overpasses kill businesses. They should have just built a traditional freeway either along the current Parkway corridor, or parallel to it.

More on Haysland Square on one my older posts:
http://www.city-data.com/forum/hunts...ng-center.html

Last edited by Hamtonfordbury; 08-10-2014 at 11:13 AM..
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Old 08-10-2014, 11:34 PM
 
Location: Huntsville, AL
1,420 posts, read 1,591,922 times
Reputation: 859
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hamtonfordbury View Post
The few "bright spots" along the road are mostly illusion. Parkway Place gets a lot of access from Drake, Bob Wallace and L&N. I never enter there from the Parkway. The new Wal-Mart is facing Drake, not the Parkway. Even the stretches without overpasses are hard places from which to reach businesses, since they are 6 lanes in dense traffic all day long.
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"But with IHOP, Regions Bank, Eye See Family Optical and several other businesses between the Wal-Mart site and Drake Avenue, there will be no vehicle access from Drake. Instead, most shoppers will come and go via two planned driveways on the Parkway access road...Shoppers will also be able to get to the Wal-Mart from L&N Drive."

View the building plans for new Wal-Mart Supercenter at Mason Plaza south of downtown Huntsville | AL.com
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Old 12-07-2015, 07:53 AM
 
Location: Madison, AL
64 posts, read 72,692 times
Reputation: 53
Construction has started on the Martin Rd/Byrd Spring/Lilly Flagg overpasses, will this bring more doom and gloom to South Parkway?
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Old 12-07-2015, 05:04 PM
 
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
47 posts, read 62,398 times
Reputation: 43
Hell, north parkway worse for worse for empty buildings. North of oakwood avenue is basically nothing but.
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Old 12-11-2015, 12:13 PM
 
170 posts, read 140,232 times
Reputation: 259
Quote:
The Parkway is just an awful road for accessing businesses, and a substandard 50 MPH "freeway" to boot. It does nothing well.
I agree. I hate that part of town. We live up on Capshaw - the only reason I go down the parkway is to go to Carrabas about once a year or to the City Cafe, which we go to about once a month.

It is an insane road. People weaving in and out of the main traffic trying to merge on and off. I don't know they didn't make it a normal road.

Steve
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Old 12-11-2015, 08:25 PM
 
Location: Heart of Dixie
12,441 posts, read 14,866,913 times
Reputation: 28438
South Parkway looks like post-apocalyptic ruins. I can't think of any reason I'd go there except to pass through.
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Old 12-12-2015, 11:55 AM
 
Location: Boonies of N. Alabama
3,881 posts, read 4,123,748 times
Reputation: 8157
One good thing about S. Pkwy right at the moment.... ChickFilA on S. Pkwy has their trays of nuggets buy 1 tray get 1 tray free!... And, if you let them know 2.5 hrs in advance, they will cook em, cool em and put them on tray ready for freezing. How great is that??!! Far as I know, they're the only one doing it... I've already ordered several trays for the holidays. And after.. haha.
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Old 12-15-2015, 09:36 PM
 
Location: Boonies of N. Alabama
3,881 posts, read 4,123,748 times
Reputation: 8157
It won't let me edit my last post.. but.. that deal is good until the 26th for anyone that's interested.
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Old 12-17-2015, 12:29 PM
 
Location: Birmingham, AL
2,446 posts, read 2,229,983 times
Reputation: 1059
I haven't been to Huntsville in 5 years, but I did grow up there and learned to drive there. South Parkway has always been a conflicted road... designed mainly to move traffic rapidly by limiting access, and then relying on adjacent service roads to feed businesses along the road. It's unsightly, sprawly, and absolutely speaks to Huntsville's emergence as a city during the age of the automobile. I'm not sure what the solution is honestly.
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Old 12-17-2015, 01:47 PM
 
Location: Madison, AL
1,614 posts, read 2,300,197 times
Reputation: 1656
To be a city full of engineers, HSV has the most poorly-designed road infrastructure I've ever seen! Yes, I know ALDOT is responsible for roads & design, not our engineer population. It's just ironic.
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