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The final touches are coming together on one of the state’s largest road projects in recent years.
"If you drive down Interstate 59/20 through Birmingham’s Central Business District at night, you’ve seen the bright lights under the recently replaced bridges. Coordinating those lights, paving surface streets that were impacted and painting some striping is all that is left of the Interstate 59/20 bridge replacement project.
Construction began to replace the heavily trafficked, aging bridges in January 2019. The bridges reopened in January this year.
ALDOT Construction Engineer Gary Smith said the lights will be complete by the end of November, striping should be complete in the next few weeks, and city street paving should be complete by Nov. 19 with the long-closed 19th Street reopening the week of Thanksgiving.
A big project that was driven by the bridge replacement is CityWalk BHAM – a public-use area to be constructed beneath the 59/20 bridges downtown.
It will be a linear park that spans 10 blocks from 15th Street North to 25th Street North and incorporates a variety of amenities and public spaces like a skate park, green space, play areas, a centerpiece water fountain and more.
Smith said the project plans are being finalized, and the contract should be placed for bid in January with construction expected to begin in March and project completion expected in May or June of 2022 ahead of the World Games."
The final touches are coming together on one of the state’s largest road projects in recent years.
"If you drive down Interstate 59/20 through Birmingham’s Central Business District at night, you’ve seen the bright lights under the recently replaced bridges. Coordinating those lights, paving surface streets that were impacted and painting some striping is all that is left of the Interstate 59/20 bridge replacement project.
Construction began to replace the heavily trafficked, aging bridges in January 2019. The bridges reopened in January this year.
ALDOT Construction Engineer Gary Smith said the lights will be complete by the end of November, striping should be complete in the next few weeks, and city street paving should be complete by Nov. 19 with the long-closed 19th Street reopening the week of Thanksgiving.
A big project that was driven by the bridge replacement is CityWalk BHAM – a public-use area to be constructed beneath the 59/20 bridges downtown.
It will be a linear park that spans 10 blocks from 15th Street North to 25th Street North and incorporates a variety of amenities and public spaces like a skate park, green space, play areas, a centerpiece water fountain and more.
Smith said the project plans are being finalized, and the contract should be placed for bid in January with construction expected to begin in March and project completion expected in May or June of 2022 ahead of the World Games."
Malfunction junction definitely needed to be worked along with a resurfacing project of I59/20 in west B'Ham; but the CityWalk project is an example of ALDOT's mismanagement when Huntsville can't get I-565 expanded appropriately in spite of a major manufacture (Toyata/Mazda assembly factory going online.
Malfunction junction definitely needed to be worked along with a resurfacing project of I59/20 in west B'Ham; but the CityWalk project is an example of ALDOT's mismanagement when Huntsville can't get I-565 expanded appropriately in spite of a major manufacture (Toyata/Mazda assembly factory going online.
Stop the hate. Citywalk was a project proposed by your federal government (which the majority of the money came to redo the junction, the new interstate bridge and Citywalk). It's part of the contract that ALDOT had to come up with a way to use the area underneath for more than just parking. Instead of putting boring parking spaces back like there was under the old bridge, they consulted with the city on ideas and what they could envisioned and they came up the idea of having a "Railroad Park" type of park with many more amenties for public use. That money was earmark specifically for that project from the federal government and only for it.
Stop the hate. Citywalk was a project proposed by your federal government (which the majority of the money came to redo the junction, the new interstate bridge and Citywalk). It's part of the contract that ALDOT had to come up with a way to use the area underneath for more than just parking. Instead of putting boring parking spaces back like there was under the old bridge, they consulted with the city on ideas and what they could envisioned and they came up the idea of having a "Railroad Park" type of park with many more amenties for public use. That money was earmark specifically for that project from the federal government and only for it.
I don't think it's hate. I think it's frustration. Both Huntsville and Birmingham have historically gotten the short end of the stick from ALDOT. As someone who saw Birmingham being continually the last city in Birmingham to get full interstate connection, it was infuriating.
I don't think it's hate. I think it's frustration. Both Huntsville and Birmingham have historically gotten the short end of the stick from ALDOT. As someone who saw Birmingham being continually the last city in Birmingham to get full interstate connection, it was infuriating.
That poster is somehow thinking CityWalk is taking what small funds ALDOT has and they are constructing Citywalk with it when they could use that money and expand I-565 better. Now if he would have said why can't ALDOT spend money like they do in Birmingham here in Hunstville is being frustated. Saying the building of a public use development that the city don't need is just plain hating.
I'm frustrated or hating when I read that OUR government decides to build a park (a nice to have entity) versus widening a highway that is already overcrowded and will become more crowded with trucking and workers supporting a new auto manufacture in the state. Something *in my opinion* has a higher priority (a need to have entity) than a park.
I do appreciate the additional information about the earmarking of the money for the purpose. It elevated my ignorance on the details. Unfortunately it doesn't relieve my frustration or "hating".
I don't think it's hate. I think it's frustration. Both Huntsville and Birmingham have historically gotten the short end of the stick from ALDOT. As someone who saw Birmingham being continually the last city in Birmingham to get full interstate connection, it was infuriating.
Birmingham's gotten the short end of the stick from ALDOT? How can you think that? They just spent over a billion dollars on the bridge redo, and built a new Interstate 22 that has a traffic count of 20.000 vehicles daily in Walker County, even less the further northwest you go. They have 4 Interstate highways in the city; Huntsville has none (just a spur that has an interstate designation).
The lights are a total waste of money. I assumed it was a city expenditure. To hear that the rest of the state has had to pay for it is ridiculous. Call it hate or frustratrion or whatever you want to call it; it's still ridiculous.
Please tell me that Alabama taxpayers are not paying for the new stadium.
Birmingham's gotten the short end of the stick from ALDOT? How can you think that? They just spent over a billion dollars on the bridge redo, and built a new Interstate 22 that has a traffic count of 20.000 vehicles daily in Walker County, even less the further northwest you go. They have 4 Interstate highways in the city; Huntsville has none (just a spur that has an interstate designation).
The lights are a total waste of money. I assumed it was a city expenditure. To hear that the rest of the state has had to pay for it is ridiculous. Call it hate or frustratrion or whatever you want to call it; it's still ridiculous.
Please tell me that Alabama taxpayers are not paying for the new stadium.
Birmingham was literally the last city in the state to get its interstates completed, thanks to George C. Wallace's ongoing punishment of Jefferson County for voting against him. I-59, I-20, and I-65 stopped at the outer suburbs for years before finally getting completed. The Red Mountain Expressway was the road to nowhere for about 15-18 years until the ALDOT completed the final half mile. I-22 only connected a handful of years ago. You simply have no idea how nightmarish it was to get around this town before 1995.
As far as the recent overhaul of the 20/59 interchange and I-22, you've pretty much lost your mind if you think that's a product of favoritism. I-22 took absolutely forever--decades, even--to complete, chiefly because it was low on ALDOT's priority list--despite the Federal government identifying is as an essential distribution link and slinging untold millions at its development.
And those 24,000 vehicles? A lot of those are trucks. The completion of I-22 has almost instantaneously upped the metro's profile as a distribution center, chiefly because it is suddenly a much easier reach to Memphis and the Great Plains. In turn, this produces tax revenue and helps recruit industry. Several huge distribution projects announced recently for the metro are proof of that, not to mention a slew of automotive aftermarket manufacturers. Four interstates are entirely justified by the way, given that the Birmingham metro's GDP is roughly that of Huntsville, Mobile, and Montgomery combined, with a Tuscaloosa or Gadsden thrown in for good measure.
Finally, the old interchange was called Malfunction Junction for a reason. It was a daily nightmare for drivers in the region, originally designed to handle a fraction of the 240,000 vehicles that flow through it every day (Which is, by the way, around 2x more vehicles a day than I-565 at its most crowded point). As a result, it was inadequate to the city's economic needs and dangerous.
Mcalumni already explained the funding for the project if you could be bothered to read it. And the stadium is being funded by the city, corporate sponsorships, and UAB. Amortize the costs of the stadium construction versus the tax revenue it will generate, and it's a no-brainer.
By the way, I think it's really, really strange how anyone from Huntsville is suddenly worried about Federal taxpayer dollars being spent in Birmingham. After all, Huntsville only exists in its present form by steadily sucking at the teat of the Federal government over the past 75 years. I mean, if it weren't for some Alabama politicians strong-arming the Defense department and then NASA from 1945 onward, Huntsville would be about the size of Florence.
I don't begrudge Huntsville's success. In fact, I like the city. But if you're going to lash out at us, then let's have a little self-awareness how about it? I mean, you should have a granite sculpture of a pork barrel in your town square. Yet, you're mad about Birmingham having some freaking lights?
Last edited by MinivanDriver; 11-29-2020 at 03:23 PM..
Birmingham was literally the last city in the state to get its interstates completed, thanks to George C. Wallace's ongoing punishment of Jefferson County for voting against him. I-59, I-20, and I-65 literally came to the outer stretches of the suburbs for years before finally getting completed. I-22 literally only connected a handful of years ago.
As far as the recent overhaul of the 20/59 interchange and I-22, you've pretty much lost your mind if you think that's a product of favoritism. I-22 took absolutely forever--decades, even--to complete, chiefly because it was low on ALDOT's priority list--despite it being an essential distribution link between two major Southern cities.
And those 24,000 vehicles? A lot of those are trucks. The completion of I-22 has almost instantaneously upped the metro's profile as a distribution center, chiefly because it is suddenly a much easier reach to Memphis and the Great Plains. In turn, this produces tax revenue and helps recruit industry. Several huge distribution projects announced recently for the metro are proof of that, not to mention a slew of automotive aftermarket manufacturers. Four interstates are entirely justified by the way, given that the Birmingham metro's GDP is roughly that of Huntsville, Mobile, and Montgomery combined, with a Tuscaloosa or Gadsden thrown in for good measure.
Finally, the old interchange was called Malfunction Junction for a reason. It was a daily nightmare for drivers in the region, originally designed to handle a fraction of the 240,000 vehicles that flow through it every day (Which is, by the way, around 2x more vehicles a day than I-565 at its most crowded point). As a result, it was inadequate to the city's economic needs and dangerous.
Mcalumni already explained the funding for the project if you could be bothered to read it. And the stadium is being funded by the city, corporate sponsorships, and UAB. Amortize the costs of the stadium construction versus the tax revenue it will generate, and it's a no-brainer.
By the way, I think it's really, really strange how anyone from Huntsville is suddenly worried about Federal taxpayer dollars being spent in Birmingham. After all, Huntsville only exists in its present form by sucking on the teat of the Federal government over the past 80 years. I mean, if it weren't for some Alabama politicians strong-arming the Defense department and then NASA from 1945 onward, Huntsville would be about the size of Florence.
I don't begrudge Huntsville's success. In fact, I like the city. But if you're going to lash out at us, then let's have a little self-awareness how about it? I mean, you should have a granite sculpture of a pork barrel in your town square. Yet, you're mad about Birmingham having some freaking lights?
I tired to tell you. It is what it is, though. I don't get it, but hey, it's what it is. Every dollar spent for the entire project (facelift for malfunction junction, new interstate bridge, underneath lights, and citywalk) was what the U.S DOT earmark those funds specifically for. ALDOT couldn't say "hey lets cut corners and spend half and put the rest into our account". A matter of fact, our mayor at the time, a few city council members, and our congressional representative went to Washington to express concerns and in hopes of securing funds for the project. Because the state didn't have the funds needed to start the project, which should have been done 5-10 years ago. So if you going to get "mad" or "frustrated", call Montgomery or D.C. with your concerns and questions, not show your dislike for Birmingham.
Last edited by mcalumni01; 11-29-2020 at 03:48 PM..
I tired to tell you. It is what it is, though. I don't get it, but hey, it's what it is.Those that live in and around Huntsville have so much dislike against Birmingham. This isn't nothing new. Just go to their thread on here, on reddit, or anywhere else and see for yourself. They think if Birmingham has it, Huntsville should already had it too. The majority of this state dislike Birmingham. That's no secret. I call it how it is. I have no dislike toward no place or area. If I don't live there, there is no point in me disliking it. Hundred of cities have way more than Birmingham, but that don't mean I should be mad or hate that city. Like how you getting mad at a city when the city isn't doing anything.
Maybe. I don't know. It's just weird. I tend to prefer thinking of Birmingham and Huntsville as two cities in Alabama that have their act together, albeit in different ways, despite having the millstone of Alabama around their necks. But on its worst day, I-565 doesn't have close to the volume of either I-65 or I-20/59 through the downtown area, let alone both.
Last edited by MinivanDriver; 11-29-2020 at 03:48 PM..
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