Information on Huntsville's Roads (Madison, York: safe, train, trailer)

[Charles]

Does anyone happen to know what the alignment of Old Highway 20 was east of Greenbrier towards Huntsville? Currently it stops at County Line. My understanding is current highway 20 and 565 replaced Old Highway 20. What was the alignment of Highway 20 between Decatur and Huntsville?

[Charles]

Great writeup on the history of a lot or roads in the Huntsville area:

Roadmaps To Our Past by Collins (CE) Wynn

[padmaster]

Originally Posted by Charles

Does anyone happen to know what the alignment of Old Highway 20 was east of Greenbrier towards Huntsville? Currently it stops at County Line. My understanding is current highway 20 and 565 replaced Old Highway 20. What was the alignment of Highway 20 between Decatur and Huntsville?

Governers Drive and Madison Blvd. were once connected as Highway 20. The section of 565 between the two exits replaced that portion of highway 20. 565 also replaced highway 20 from the end of Madison Blvd into Decatur.

[cornutt]

Originally Posted by padmaster

Governers Drive and Madison Blvd. were once connected as Highway 20. The section of 565 between the two exits replaced that portion of highway 20. 565 also replaced highway 20 from the end of Madison Blvd into Decatur.

Right. If you find some old pics of the Space & Rocket Center, you will see where Govenors Dr. / Highway 20 used to meet Bob Wallace Ave. / Madison Pike in an "X" shaped intersection in front of it. Wynn Drive came out right next to it, plus the N&S rail line ran right through the middle of it. It was very confusing and dangerous.

If you take the ramp from westbound 565 to Gate 9, you pass underneath a Rideout Road overpass that is much wider than the ramp. The reason it's that wide is because it was used for a temporary portion of Highway 20 during the 565 construction. When that portion of 565 first opened to through traffic, it and Highway 20 actually existed side-by-side for a little while. During that phase, you couldn't exit 565 anywhere between Wall-Triana Highway and the Parkway.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by cornutt

Right. If you find some old pics of the Space & Rocket Center, you will see where Govenors Dr. / Highway 20 used to meet Bob Wallace Ave. / Madison Pike in an "X" shaped intersection in front of it. Wynn Drive came out right next to it, plus the N&S rail line ran right through the middle of it. It was very confusing and dangerous.

Here it is in a 1978 aerial photo. You can click and zoom:

Redstone Arsenal North Central 1978

[friday13]

Originally Posted by Charles

Great writeup on the history of a lot or roads in the Huntsville area:

Roadmaps To Our Past by Collins (CE) Wynn

Re: 1948 "disappearance "of Viduta - there is still a Viduta street on Monte Sano, directly off Monte Sano Blvd. (as I many times see it passing thru)

[deesonic]

Yep. Bob Wallace/Old Madison Pike was once one continuous road before the interstate came. I can remember when Bob Wallace was two lane beginning just west of Jordan/Patton near the present day Botanical Garden (that was before the gardens existed).

[cornutt]

Yeah, there used to be traffic jams where it merged down to two lanes just before it intersected with Sparkman Drive. For a while there was a sign there reading, "ALTERNATE YOUR MERGE -- BE COURTEOUS". Can't say that it did a lot of good.

The I-565 construction eliminated several grade crossings of the Norfolk Southern line that runs parallel to it in the UAH / Research Park area. At one time, Madison Pike, Sparkman Drive, Jordan Lane, and Triana Boulevard all had grade crossings. The Jordan Lane one was the site of the state of Alabama's worst-ever traffic accident, in 1983. A number of cars were stopped behind the crossing gate, waiting on an oncoming train. The driver of a gasoline tanker used the left turn lane to pass the stopped cars and drive around the gate. The train hit the tank broadside. The tanker exploded, incinerating the cars stopped at the gate, and several buildings adjacent to the crossing. 37 people died, most of them burned to death in their cars. The driver of the tanker truck lived long enough to admit to police that he was running behind schedule and tried to beat the train. He died two days later.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by cornutt

The Jordan Lane one was the site of the state of Alabama's worst-ever traffic accident, in 1983. A number of cars were stopped behind the crossing gate, waiting on an oncoming train. The driver of a gasoline tanker used the left turn lane to pass the stopped cars and drive around the gate. The train hit the tank broadside. The tanker exploded, incinerating the cars stopped at the gate, and several buildings adjacent to the crossing. 37 people died, most of them burned to death in their cars. The driver of the tanker truck lived long enough to admit to police that he was running behind schedule and tried to beat the train. He died two days later.

Is this it, 1981? It says only five people died.

5 KILLED AS GAS TRUCK HITS TRAIN IN ALABAMA - New York Times


NTSB-TSR-RHR- 82-1
Miller Transporters, Inc., Tractor Cargo Tank-Semi trailer/Southern Railway System Freight Train Collision and Fire, Huntsville, Alabama, September 15, 1981
September 15, 1981
At 9:00 a.m. c.d.t., on September 15, 1981, a northbound truck tractor-cargo tank semitrailer loaded with 8,986 gallons of gasoline was struck by a westbound freight train at a railroad/highway grade crossing on Jordan Lane in Huntsville, Alabama. The gasoline cargo escaping from the ruptured cargo tank splashed over the locomotive and four passenger cars, that had stopped north of the track to await the train’s passage, and ignited. At the time, the crossing warning red lights were flashing and the bell was ringing; the train lights were illuminated, its bell was ringing, and its whistle was sounding. Five persons were killed, two persons died later as a result of their injuries, and four of five train crewmembers were injured.
The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the failure of the truck driver to comply with the activated crossing warning signal and Federal regulations and company rides that require hazardous materials carriers to stop at all nonexempt railroad crossings to determine if it is safe before crossing the tracks. Contributing to the severity of this accident and loss of life was the rupture of the cargo tank and the rapid spread of the burning gasoline around the victims’ cars which were stopped directly in the path of the spreading gasoline. "

from

Hazmat accident list 69-82

[cornutt]

That's it, but I don't know where they got that there were only five fatalities. I know for a fact it was way more than that.