What is traffic on 280 really like? (Birmingham, Hoover: cul-de-sac, lawyer, house)

[Gatordave260]

I've read a lot about how bad traffic on 280 is. But, since "bad" is such a relative term, I'm not really sure what that means. So, a few questions:

1) When do the rush hour periods begin and end?
2) During morning rush hour, approximately how long would it take to get downtown from the junction of 459 & 280? How about from Cahaba Valley Rd?
3) If you live between I-65 and 280, is 65 a better alternative, or is it just as bad?

Thanks for the help.

[Threestep2]

6:30/7:00 16:00/16:30
30-60 minutes
65 has deeper pot holes

[harry chickpea]

I think that is a bit sanguine. I've spent twenty afternoon minutes just inching from the mall at the top of the hill going south to the 459 interchange. On a "reasonable" day those figures may be closer. Still, delays are NOTHING like those in Atlanta.

[ashpelham]

I would disagree with Harry in that delays can very well be like Atlanta. Not regularly, but they can be. It is a very consistent 45 minute drive for me during peak rush in the mornings from my house in Shelby County to my office just South of downtown Birmingham. I drive i-65 and partially on 31 N expressway. It's 16 miles for Chrissakes! That is very similar to a 16 mile drive in Atlanta, and is worse in some situations.

Trouble is this: while in Atlanta you have 4 times as many people driving, they are coming from all over: N, S, E, and W. Here in Birmingham metro, it seems like they are evacuating Shelby County to North in the mornings, and opposite in the evenings. Everyone is going one way in, and one way out. None of the other directions even come close. Another issue is that there is basically US 280 and I-65 to move all those people. Sure, some still use US 31, but it's even slower. US 280 is a design nightmare, and if, IF, anything is ever done about it, a construction nightmare for years to come. It won't get better if no action is taken, which seems to be the most common answer thus far. If something IS done, then look for it takes years and years to be complete.

It's a no win. I still don't understand why anyone would move south of Vestavia Hills in Jefferson County, save for the sole reason that housing is so unaffordable to the majority of people in this area (myself included). Sorry, I didn't go to medical school, and my dad wasn't a prominent lawyer in the area. Just how it goes here.

[Tourian]

I haven't lived on 280 in a couple of years, but from what I remember if you happened to get caught in the bad part of traffic during the morning afternoon or even sometimes the lunch rush, you could expect a thirty minute wait just to get from 119 or Valleydale to 459.

The good news is once you got ON to 459 you could really boogie and make up lost time since it rarely gets backed up unless there is a terrible accident (which does happen occasionally.) Just watch out for gray Chargers and black or white Tahoes.

[Threestep2]

Originally Posted by Tourian

I haven't lived on 280 in a couple of years, but from what I remember if you happened to get caught in the bad part of traffic during the morning afternoon or even sometimes the lunch rush, you could expect a thirty minute wait just to get from 119 or Valleydale to 459.

The good news is once you got ON to 459 you could really boogie and make up lost time since it rarely gets backed up unless there is a terrible accident (which does happen occasionally.) Just watch out for gray Chargers and black or white Tahoes.

Unless you try to move over to 31:>) Time to order pizza.

[Tourian]

Originally Posted by Threestep

Unless you try to move over to 31:>) Time to order pizza.

Yes, once you get back on the surface if your commute involves 31 in Hoover, Pelham or Alabaster or 11 out in Trussville, or 150 out in Hoover you will be right back in the same stop and go madness. And bad news is, there just aren't many alternatives unless you are very familiar with endless sub-divisional neighborhoods that have names like Lake Crest Oaks or Oak Crest Lakes, or so on.

[bosshawk]

Imagine your worst nightmare while receiving a root canal underwater with a great white coming straight for you.

[autiger92]

Originally Posted by ashpelham

I would disagree with Harry in that delays can very well be like Atlanta. Not regularly, but they can be. It is a very consistent 45 minute drive for me during peak rush in the mornings from my house in Shelby County to my office just South of downtown Birmingham. I drive i-65 and partially on 31 N expressway. It's 16 miles...

Where in Shelby County do you live? How far off 65 are you?

The OP asked about drive time from Cahaba Valley Rd, and I am very interested to know this too. People bash 280 traffic on here all the time, but my experience has been that Hwy 11 in Trussville and I65 are just as bad or worse.

I timed my last trip from my apt off of Cahaba River Rd all the way out to Highland Lakes during rush hour and it took me right at 20 minutes. The only time I had to "sit" in traffic was on Cahaba River Rd waiting to get out onto 280. That took 10 minutes (to go 1 mile)! Once I got on 280, the traffic moved fairly quickly. Another 10 minutes from the light at Chick fil a to the light at Highland Lakes. I was pleasantly surprised. Of course, there were no wrecks that day.

I still have nightmares about being caught once in rush hour on GA400 in ATL.

[ashpelham]

I live in Pelham, just south of the 119 intersection with Hwy 31. It's bad when school is NOT in session, which was when this thread began and I first responded. Now that school is back in session, it's a 25 minute wait to actually get ON interstate 65 from my house through the numberous school zones which basically incapacitate HWY 31. ZERO options. The neighborhood shuffles that so many have mentioned are limited due to the endless cul-de-sacs and neighborhoods with one way in, one way out.

Design has followed function, alright, in this part of Alabama, and other parts of our fine, fine capitalist society.

Sorry, I'm in a particularly crappy mood this morning after an awful day at work yesterday, watching Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story", last night, and sleeping about 4 hours.

Pass on that movie, especially if you work at a bank and have a bad attitude because of it!