I-422 northern beltline.... (Birmingham, Montgomery, Mobile: low income, how much, neighborhood)

[Surge0001]

Lo-freaking-L, they tried their Damnedest to pass the bill before October and now that it’s October, they are gonna wait to complete by November…. Wild

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by Surge0001

Lo-freaking-L, they tried their Damnedest to pass the bill before October and now that it’s October, they are gonna wait to complete by November…. Wild

As long as the two bills remain tied together the Infrastructure Bill may never pass.

[John Williams]

Originally Posted by Mississippi Alabama Line

Not sure what that has to do with anything.

We are talking about Birmingham traffic, and it is ALWAYS worse in the city limits, than it is OTM. Reworking the interchanges recently (as part of the bridge replacement) helped, but it's more constricted there, more choke points, more interchanges. There's more lanes OTM too. This is true for any city, really.

That's why I asked if you'd ever been there. Anyone with a working knowledge of the area knows this, but you makes these statements like they are fact.

What do I know? I only lived there for years.

All I know is that 280 from the foot of Oak Mountain to 31 is one gigantic choke point. Aside from limiting intersections and maybe introducing folks in that area to the joys (sic) of the Michigan Left, there's not much to be done.

As for the Northern Beltline....I suspect that's something my great-great grandchildren will get to roll along during their adult lives.

[steveklein]

Originally Posted by John Williams

All I know is that 280 from the foot of Oak Mountain to 31 is one gigantic choke point. Aside from limiting intersections and maybe introducing folks in that area to the joys (sic) of the Michigan Left, there's not much to be done.

As for the Northern Beltline....I suspect that's something my great-great grandchildren will get to roll along during their adult lives.

I think 280 should be turned into a semi-limited access road (similar to how 280 is between 31 and 459) and from 119 to Chelsea now while they still can. Not so much due to heavy traffic volume, but because of the terrain. Specifically, I am talking about the intersections with Shelby County 41 and Shelby County 43. It is incredibly frustrating from not just a time perspective, but also from a gas usage and brake usage, to have dozens of cars stop in both directions when they are travelling 60+ mph and have momentum from gravity just so 1 or 2 cars can cross or turn on to 280.

I think it would make a big difference and 20 years from now, people will be glad it was done much like residents of Homewood, Vestavia, and Mountain Brook appreciate that 280 in their neck of the woods generally flows much smoother than it does from The Summit to Greystone.

I think there are a few places through Inverness where service roads could be extended alongside 280 to where there are fewer intersections and lights but the businesses along 280 would probably balk at limiting access.

[BamaDave]

I'm curious about how Memphis got the I-269 outer loop built so quickly, when it is arguably even farther out and passing through even more undeveloped areas than the proposed I-422 (and much longer). Maybe because eventually parts of it will be designated I-69 or it was deemed essential to that project?

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by BamaDave

I'm curious about how Memphis got the I-269 outer loop built so quickly, when it is arguably even farther out and passing through even more undeveloped areas than the proposed I-422 (and much longer). Maybe because eventually parts of it will be designated I-69 or it was deemed essential to that project?

Can't answer your question, but I have one: Did Mississippi pay for that southern Memphis loop, or did Tennessee? It's essentially all in Mississippi, so I assume it was an MDOT project.

It's pretty much out in the middle of nowhere like the one that's now halfway around Nashville.

[steveklein]

Originally Posted by BamaDave

I'm curious about how Memphis got the I-269 outer loop built so quickly, when it is arguably even farther out and passing through even more undeveloped areas than the proposed I-422 (and much longer). Maybe because eventually parts of it will be designated I-69 or it was deemed essential to that project?

The costs were split between the two states. The TN portion was paid for by TN, the MS portion by MS.

The total cost combined was something like $1.2 billion, so less than a quarter of what the northern beltline would cost.

The terrain for the route of 422 is what makes it so expensive. If it were flat land, then it would probably already have been built for like $1 billion.

It greatly improved access to the casinos in Tunica from places like Birmingham and Atlanta. That may have had some impact on Mississippi wanting to get it done.

[cooldiver]

Originally Posted by steveklein

The terrain for the route of 422 is what makes it so expensive. If it were flat land, then it would probably already have been built for like $1 billion.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner! Just look at a topographic map of Jefferson County and a topographic map of SW Tennessee and NW Mississippi.

The Memphis area is a lot flatter than the Birmingham area. After all, Memphis is in a river valley and Birmingham is right at the southern end of the Appalachian Mountains.

Mountains make for beautiful scenery, but difficult and expensive road building. Just ask West Virginia.

[BamaDave]

Makes sense on the terrain issues!

[MinivanDriver]

Originally Posted by steveklein

The costs were split between the two states. The TN portion was paid for by TN, the MS portion by MS.

The total cost combined was something like $1.2 billion, so less than a quarter of what the northern beltline would cost.

The terrain for the route of 422 is what makes it so expensive. If it were flat land, then it would probably already have been built for like $1 billion.

It greatly improved access to the casinos in Tunica from places like Birmingham and Atlanta. That may have had some impact on Mississippi wanting to get it done.

Yep. All one has to do is look at the terrain of I-22 between Jasper and I-65 to see why it took so long. And then look at a topographic map of northern Jefferson County. On the other hand, Birmingham metro will really need the distribution space in the decades to come.