Huntsville/Madison Development News (Birmingham, Decatur: climate, skiing, heat)

[dijkstra]

Originally Posted by AU HSV

15 million in upgrades coming to Von Braun Center. While the ultimate improvement would be a new or expanded arena. Don't think that is feasible, but the city is doing a great job improving the 50 year old facility. It has had multiple expansions, additions and improvements the last 5 years.

"The one-year project will include upgrades to the Mark C. Smith Concert Hall, Playhouse, and the Saturn Ballroom, building an extension to the back of the concert hall and enlarging the VBC kitchen, according to the contract agreement between the city and Turner Construction Company."

https://www.al.com/news/huntsville/2...un-center.html

Honestly, I think it may be about time to stop spending money trying to make the VBC work. We have pretty much outgrown it and it is definitely not going to be large enough with all the growth. The immediate downtown area doesn't have room to build a bigger one at this point. I wonder if the housing project property on Washington St. is large enough to build a new larger facility? That would probably be about the best bet now I believe. Maybe they could build some apartment buildings at another location and bulldoze that eyesore of a housing project to make room.

[MisterEd51]

Originally Posted by dijkstra

Honestly, I think it may be about time to stop spending money trying to make the VBC work. We have pretty much outgrown it and it is definitely not going to be large enough with all the growth. The immediate downtown area doesn't have room to build a bigger one at this point. I wonder if the housing project property on Washington St. is large enough to build a new larger facility? That would probably be about the best bet now I believe. Maybe they could build some apartment buildings at another location and bulldoze that eyesore of a housing project to make room.

Did they miss an opportunity to expand the VBC if they would have bought the old Coke plant north of Clinton?

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by MisterEd51

Did they miss an opportunity to expand the VBC if they would have bought the old Coke plant north of Clinton?

Probably not. The Front Door (or whatever it's called) will be a better use of that land, if it ever gets off the ground. So far, nothing had been done last time I was downtown a couple weeks ago.

I suppose the current arena could be razed and a larger one built, but that's about the only way. It can't really be relocated because of all the hotels and other facilities that were built pretty much because the VBC is there. The Birmingham/Jefferson Civic Center essentially started over, and they got a much better product after the extended down time.

[AU HSV]

Pratt Ave Streetscape projymoving forward.

https://www.huntsvilleal.gov/huntsvi...gTQW9XWtHRLJss

[johnsonkk]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

The Skybridge is to connect the Governor's Drive area to downtown. The Governor's drive area is being upgraded from housing projects to large, multi-story, mixed use, and I believe mixed income, apartment houses in place of typical housing projects. So it's part of the gentrification efforts from the Parkway west to where Governor's joins 565. I suspect money for such projects come from totally different pots than highway funds.

The issue of making the roadways passable is growing in concern in the city, countywide, statewide and federally. The lack of funding that was spent in preparation for any solutions to impassable roadways is being asked by both politicians and constituents. The current solution appears to be “waiting for warmer weather”.

Residents on top of Mt Sano have not been able to drive home for days. Freezing rain tonight for “round 2” is not going to help.

https://www.waaytv.com/news/insuranc...2ac85a800.html

Athens began plowing yesterday but not Madison county. The reason for this “post grab” is back to the elevated pedestrian walkway at $65 million. Understand it’s different pots of money but local leaders didn’t adequately plan for a week+ long snow and ice event as demonstrated by the visible response. Research parkway (255) just opened yesterday and 431 is still slow travel. Why not plow?

And at the state level, I65 is clearly treated differently in southern Tennessee vs northern Alabama.

Sure there will be some comments about the city is doing this, the county is doing that but are the results on par with a national ranked mid city?

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by johnsonkk

The issue of making the roadways passable is growing in concern in the city, countywide, statewide and federally. The lack of funding that was spent in preparation for any solutions to impassable roadways is being asked by both politicians and constituents. The current solution appears to be “waiting for warmer weather”.

Residents on top of Mt Sano have not been able to drive home for days. Freezing rain tonight for “round 2” is not going to help.

https://www.waaytv.com/news/insuranc...2ac85a800.html

Athens began plowing yesterday but not Madison county. The reason for this “post grab” is back to the elevated pedestrian walkway at $65 million. Understand it’s different pots of money but local leaders didn’t adequately plan for a week+ long snow and ice event as demonstrated by the visible response. Research parkway (255) just opened yesterday and 431 is still slow travel. Why not plow?

And at the state level, I65 is clearly treated differently in southern Tennessee vs northern Alabama.

Sure there will be some comments about the city is doing this, the county is doing that but are the results on par with a national ranked mid city?

Got to agree with you. Best I can tell from looking at the various cameras, mostly Channel 48 since ALDOT doesn't have any in Madison County, all that was done was pre-treatment on a few major roads with a little brine, and that was ineffective. After that didn't work, they just essentially stick their heads in the sand and hope for warmer weather. Winter weather happens often enough in this area (it doesn't stop at the state line) that the governments should equip themselves with proper equipment and supplies to take care of things.

We get winter weather every year, and it's always the same. I remember once seeing the county mentioning how many pallets of salt (in bags!) they had. Buy it in bulk - it's cheap and doesn't go bad.

If nothing else, contract it out. With all the building going on, there has to be hundreds of pieces of equipment such as front end loaders, road graders, and large trucks that spread fertilizer in fields. It's not necessary to buy dedicated vehicles - many cities put plow blades (moldboards) on the front of garbage trucks.

This particular storm was mostly sleet in Madison County instead of snow. It's hard, almost impossible to plow sleet. But it could be salted and it would be gone in a short time. And tonight it's going to rain on top of all our ice, then turn cold again. It could be a big mess.

We, in northern Alabama, essentially do nothing. The Huntsville metro is a growing area, but nonchalance about preparation for winter events could well affect that growth. Maybe it's time for the television stations to take the governments on over their inaction.

[djmaxwell]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

This particular storm was mostly sleet in Madison County instead of snow. It's hard, almost impossible to plow sleet. But it could be salted and it would be gone in a short time. And tonight it's going to rain on top of all our ice, then turn cold again. It could be a big mess.

Salt isn't magic. It is only effective to about 20 deg. and at that point, is marginally effective.

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by djmaxwell

Salt isn't magic. It is only effective to about 20 deg. and at that point, is marginally effective.

The high yesterday was 30. Basically, the city/county/state does not stock the supplies they should.

Here's a video from yesterday that someone made crossing from Alabama into Tennessee: https://www.facebook.com/reel/384781070755172

[tn_native]

One of the TV stations showed that Athens was trying out using a street sweeper on the ice. It at least was breaking it up and moving the residue to the sides.

I'm praying for no freezing rain, as that could be catastrophic on trees and power lines. It won't be much help for Monte Sano if the power trucks can't get up there to work on a power outage post freezing rain.

[johnsonkk]

Originally Posted by tn_native

One of the TV stations showed that Athens was trying out using a street sweeper on the ice. It at least was breaking it up and moving the residue to the sides.

I'm praying for no freezing rain, as that could be catastrophic on trees and power lines. It won't be much help for Monte Sano if the power trucks can't get up there to work on a power outage post freezing rain.

Even if it’s technically rain, when it hits the snow and ice, it will freeze. NWS issued another winter storm warning this morning. This link is for the outlook.

https://www.weather.gov/bmx/