Better to go through B'ham or bypass? (Birmingham, Montgomery: spring break, apartment complex)

[Eljay Len]

Originally Posted by cpg35223

Okay...here's what you do. Here's the best possible route to Orlando. Trust me on this.

Take I-65 to Montgomery. Then take I-85. Get off on exit 16 and head to Eufala, then onward to Tifton. About five traffic lights total that way. Zero traffic.

That route is the best by a long shot.

Thanks. Exit 16 off of I85 seems like a small road all the way to Eufala. HWY 231 from Montgomery to Dothan then on to I10 wouldn't be better? More main of a roadway? What do you think?

[cpg35223]

Originally Posted by Eljay Len

Thanks. Exit 16 off of I85 seems like a small road all the way to Eufala. HWY 231 from Montgomery to Dothan then on to I10 wouldn't be better? More main of a roadway? What do you think?

No traffic, no traffic lights.

[Eljay Len]

Thanks everyone. Took a route from Birmingham to Montgomery to Dothan to I-10.

Question: We passed through 4 areas around Birmingham and Montgomery where the air was saturated with smoke so think it hit my sinuses bad and gave me an instant sore throat. They were the same on the way down as well as coming back. It smelled like burning wood, but very think in the air and concentrated to particular areas. You could even see the smoke as you approached it. (The recirculate feature on the rental SUV's A/C malfunctioned and allowed outside air in, so I couldn't prevent it.) Anyway does anyone know what that was from?

[raj kapoor]

Originally Posted by Eljay Len

Thanks everyone. Took a route from Birmingham to Montgomery to Dothan to I-10.

Question: We passed through 4 areas around Birmingham and Montgomery where the air was saturated with smoke so think it hit my sinuses bad and gave me an instant sore throat. They were the same on the way down as well as coming back. It smelled like burning wood, but very think in the air and concentrated to particular areas. You could even see the smoke as you approached it. (The recirculate feature on the rental SUV's A/C malfunctioned and allowed outside air in, so I couldn't prevent it.) Anyway does anyone know what that was from?

I hate to have to suggest, but it could be that you encountered where the ALDOT was burning off heavy debris cleared from the road work going on in both cities.

I know that in Birmingham, it would not be industrial; it has been decades since they have equipped their systems with controls. (lots of people see steam and/or vapor and think there is still smoke rising from some stacks on the west side)

If you could be specific about the areas you were in when you noticed this, one of us might connect the dots. I know that I have been in the general areas of your path through town and saw nor smelled anything burning.

[harry chickpea]

From north of B'ham to Hoover you get a chance of hitting some of the ozone/pollution that still can plague the city (no where near as bad as in years gone by). When we were looking to move back to Alabama and were traveling on Double Oak Mtn south of the city, the yellow haze was quite visible. Trash wood burns from clearing/tornado cleanup/construction are quite common throughout the state. Some of it can be acrid, but it doesn't come close to when the Everglades burn (which happens regularly) and the Malleluca trees get into the mix.

[Eljay Len]

This seemed very much like old wood burning. I worked in a pallet factory where we burned off our waste wood and that's exactly what it smelled like. Very thick and very obvious. So thick my throat became irritated and my voice horse. It was in about 4 spots between Birmingham and Montgomery and south of it a bit. All of the spots smelled the same, and we encountered them on the way down and then a week later on the way back up. It was too thick to be residential. I feel for any residents or businesses in the area. Each time we went through it the time was at night.

[raj kapoor]

Well as per my earlier post, if you can't give us any specifics we can't know where you are talking about. 'Four spots between Birmingham and Montgomery' is about ninety miles.

Since I haven't driven south of the city in a few months, I can't begin to guess what you encountered. Of course I am interested since I have not had that experience, and I too am fairly sensitive to such things. You just lucked up I suppose.

[Eljay Len]

I actually did note where the areas were but forgot the names. I'm thinking surely it was a fluke or seasonal thing because it was so noticeably strong and such an irritant that if it went on all the time, I'm sure locals would complain about it.

[HelpFindEscapedRoy]

Originally Posted by VeeBee66

Can not tell you how many times we've made the trip from NW Alabama to Naples, Florida. We went several different ways and we decided that going I20 to I285 to I75 in Atlanta is by far the best and fastest if you can avoid the time around rush hours. I think we actually got caught up in traffic in Atlanta once.

Atlanta...ugh! There's never been a trip through there that we didn't get caught in traffic. Even on a Sunday afternoon a few miles south of there it was bottlenecked. That might've been around Dahlonega or something like that.

[rawrockills]

In response to the smoke:

While I doubt it is what you describe, there are a number of paper mills in that general vicinity. Some power generation facilities as well.