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6/30/09
6/15/09
From an Attorney's Perspective
An Elevated Highway 280: Just an Eye Sore or More Accidents?
A firm was awarded a million dollar contract last week to study whether highway 280 should be elevated, i.e., essentially double-decked, over the mountain in its most congested stretches. It seems to me that when million dollar feasibility studies start getting awarded, the project is getting to the stage of being seriously considered. This caused me to seriously consider what might be the consequences.
My own experience with elevated, or double-decked highways, although limited, has not been very favorable. That method of highway construction has been used extensively in Austin, Texas, to create what is in my opinion a horrible result. The traffic congestion on the road and the entrances to the elevated portion are confusing and still congested. Everytime I drive on it I am thankful that it is not in Birmingham, Alabama, although I must admit I have no idea how bad the traffic problems were before it was built.
For complete article, click here
Lloyd W. Gathings
This entry was posted on Monday, June 15th, 2009 at 11:58 am and is filed under Auto Accidents, Trucking Accidents
A firm was awarded a million dollar contract last week to study whether highway 280 should be elevated, i.e., essentially double-decked, over the mountain in its most congested stretches. It seems to me that when million dollar feasibility studies start getting awarded, the project is getting to the stage of being seriously considered. This caused me to seriously consider what might be the consequences.
My own experience with elevated, or double-decked highways, although limited, has not been very favorable. That method of highway construction has been used extensively in Austin, Texas, to create what is in my opinion a horrible result. The traffic congestion on the road and the entrances to the elevated portion are confusing and still congested. Everytime I drive on it I am thankful that it is not in Birmingham, Alabama, although I must admit I have no idea how bad the traffic problems were before it was built.
For complete article, click here
Lloyd W. Gathings
This entry was posted on Monday, June 15th, 2009 at 11:58 am and is filed under Auto Accidents, Trucking Accidents
6/11/09
2/8/08
ALDOT Director Says US 280 Project would require tolls
http://www.constructionequipmentguide.com/story.asp?story=9965&headline=ALDOT%20Director%20Says%20U.S.%20280%20Project%20Would%20Require%20Tolls
State Transportation Director Joe McInnes said that in 2008, he wants to begin building elevated lanes on U.S. 280 east of Interstate 459 in Birmingham.
McInnes said the project is likely to require the use of tolls. But he called the project “critical” to addressing growing congestion on the popular — and heavily commercial — route from Shelby County to Jefferson County.
State Transportation Director Joe McInnes said that in 2008, he wants to begin building elevated lanes on U.S. 280 east of Interstate 459 in Birmingham.
McInnes said the project is likely to require the use of tolls. But he called the project “critical” to addressing growing congestion on the popular — and heavily commercial — route from Shelby County to Jefferson County.
4/5/07
Tour de 280 Walk-a-Thon/5K Fun Run
Why?To help fund the Glatting Jackson study of alternatives to an elevated Highway 280 and to raise awareness of the importance of this issue
When?
Sunday, April 29th, 2:00PM
The Tour de 280 Walk-a-Thon/5K Fun Run, organized by Gravlee Fitness, was held in the historic neighborhood of Homewood and the shopping district of Mountain Brook Village. The race/walk allowed participants to see why this area should not be damaged by the construction of an elevated highway.
2/3/07
Reclaiming Urbanism and Revitalizing Cities
America's twentieth century highway building era included elevated freeways which cut huge swaths across our cities, decimating neighborhoods and reducing quality of life for city residents. This massive concrete infrastructure had devastating effects on urban economies. It blighted adjacent property and pushed access to basic amenities further out. With the Federal and State Departments of Transportation confronting shrinking budgets and cities looking for ways to increase their revenues, it is an ideal time to offer less expensive, urban alternatives to the reconstruction of urban expressways.
New York City, Portland, San Francisco, Milwaukee and Seoul, South Korea have confronted this problem by replacing elevated highways with boulevards, saving billions of dollars and increasing real estate values and economic development on adjacent land. The Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) and the Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) believe that teardowns offer an attractive option for cities struggling with aging highway infrastructure. The strategies are proving themselves in adding value and restoring urban neighborhoods decimated by highway construction.
Jeffco Officials on board with mass transit after Sept 07 Denver trip!
Bumper Stickers and Posters are no longer available at Mountain Brook and Homewood City Halls
design: Winston Mortimor Inc.
Read About Results of Glatting Jackson Study for Alternatives to an Elevated Highway
Use San Francisco's Experience
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/09/08/BAGBFEJVE21.DTL
(San Francisco Mayor Art) Agnos has no regrets over his battles and points to the renaissance along the Embarcadero -- now free of a foreboding elevated freeway -- as a shining example.
"We obviously are the model for the rest of the country in terms of what a city really can do to take advantage of the enormous benefit of demolishing a series of freeways that cut across the city, leaving scars," he said. "The social benefits and economic benefits are tremendous."
From Barton-Clay Jewelers in Mtn. Brook
From English Village
U.S. Highway 280 Alternatives Analysis and Visualization
Musings on Bham's 280 by a California native
Say "NO" to US 280 elevated highway
BJCC Progress blocked by elevated highway per Director of Regional Planning Commission
City Leaders and residents fighting a proposal to elevate U.S. 280
Elevated 280, before and after
Wednesday, March 14, 2007 News staff writer
http://www.al.com/birminghamnews/stories/index.ssf?/base/community/117386286877140.xml&coll=2
HANNAH WOLFSON
Editorials from the Birmingham News
ELEVATED HIGHWAY:
Would be bad for neighborhoods
Among the many lessons learned from the construction of the nation's interstate highway system was that elevated highways had a destructive effect on neighborhoods. In "Divided Highways," author Tom Lewis recounts how proposals for elevated highways in New Orleans, San Francisco, New York, Philadelphia and other large cities were rejected once neighborhood advocates realized the highway planners' raised roads would bring noise, pollution, grime and visual blight.
Granted, U.S. 280 is not an urban interstate, but an elevated highway on 280 would have these same impacts on the neighborhoods it passes.
As for "cool," big cities everywhere are now competing for young urban professionals to provide our work force, brain power and possibly leadership for the future. In the Nov. 25 edition of The New York Times, "downtown living, public transportation and plenty of entertainment options" were cited by young professionals as features that will attract them to their cities of choice.
Last year, while in St. Louis riding its light-rail mass transit system from the airport to downtown, my 19-year-old daughter asked me why we didn't have a train like that in Birmingham; great question, with no good answer.
There are other compelling reasons for including a mass transit option. Economic growth for Southern cities with mass transit exceeds that of cities without, and there is the obvious environmental benefit associated with moving people in mass rather than one or two at a time.
Bad for neighborhoods, not cool to young professionals: We need to drop the idea of an elevated highway and develop a smarter plan for our future.
Jeff Underwood
Homewood
Renderings omit dark shadows:
Renderings in The News Thursday of the proposed elevated highway above U.S. 280 were lovely.
Oddly, though, the cars and trees cast shadows, but the highway never does. The highway just seems to be barely there, blending always into the sky. It's always sunny around the highway. I guess these must be the renderings of those who want to build it.
Now, let's see the drawings from those who oppose the highway - the drawings that will show the dark shadow it forever casts across the landscape, the litter that gathers below it, the stained and graffiti-covered concrete from a few years down the road.
Art Meripol
Mountain Brook
Natural assets must not be ruined:
Couching a large concrete structure through the middle of Mountain Brook and Homewood built to facilitate unfettered urban sprawl down U.S. 280 as a "tribute to nature" is an example of the spin being employed in the elevated highway concept.
The term "concept" is appropriate, because the Alabama Department of Transportation representative said at the public hearing that DOT will do its own design of the roadway if the project moves forward. The color pictures in your newspaper represent fanciful drawings by a private firm. (For example, the major intersection views do not show up/down ramps, and assumptions are made that cutting-edge lighting and roadway technologies would be part of the DOT's final, funded design.)
Notwithstanding the design, I disagree with the premise. The concept work assumes that the cities through which U.S. 280 runs are beholden to accommodate everyone who wants to drive without traffic on the road. The beauty of Homewood and Mountain Brook is a key reason I moved here to start a business, and it creates a positive impression of Birmingham in those who visit from elsewhere. We must be careful to not ruin the natural assets that enable the growth we hope to enjoy.
G.T. LaBorde
Mountain Brook
Only butterflies, bunnies missing:
It is very disappointing to learn The News is buying the slick marketing campaign of Progress 280 and others to build an elevated U.S. 280. The highly idealized and artfully Photoshopped "pictures" The News printed without qualification lack only pretty bunnies and butterflies to make their falsely pastoral setting complete.
The truth is there is nothing pretty about the elevated road, either environmentally or aesthetically. If you wanted to provide an accurate sense of what the elevated road might be like, color the blue skies gray from the resulting air pollution and the tunnel-like effect of the structure. The misleading perspective contained in the "photo" in no way reflects just how wide and massive the elevated structure would be, or how long a shadow it would cast. And any promised short-term improvements in air quality that may be realized by decreasing stop-and-go traffic are going to quickly be eclipsed by the even greater number of cars that will be on the road.
The pictures also need a soundtrack; perhaps you have the road noise from last year's Talladega 500. Figg Engineering's disingenuous claims about better design and materials aside, the noise of the significant truck and local traffic at grade (missing from the nice pictures) will be trapped and broadcast throughout the lower elevations of interior neighborhoods. Meanwhile, because of the topography of our area, those homes situated above U.S. 280 will have no protection from the elevated portion of the road.
The one kernel of truth in so much fluffy popcorn about the road's "benefits" was the candid admission by Alabama Department of Transportation engineer Brian Davis of what we all know: Historically, adding lanes is a short-term solution that does not work.
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 Letters, faxes, and e-mailSunday, January 28, 2007 | |
If the elevated road proponents win and we spend an estimated $400 million to $700 million to build 10 miles of road, even according to DOT's most conservative estimates, the road will be obsolete within about 20 years of its construction. Meanwhile, we will have destroyed what makes our city beautiful and distinctive with the ugly urban leviathan of the elevated road.
Eva Dillard
Homewood
The Last of Boston's Elevated Highway
The Last of Boston's Elevated Highway
Story by Margaret Foster / Sept. 21, 2004
http://www.nationaltrust.org/magazine/archives/arc_news/092104.htm
Story by Margaret Foster / Sept. 21, 2004
http://www.nationaltrust.org/magazine/archives/arc_news/092104.htm
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| The last of Boston's Fitzgerald Expressway awaits demolition. (Stephen Hussar) |
When Boston's Fitzgerald Expressway opened in 1959, it was touted as a "highway in the sky." Now only a few remnants of the elevated Central Artery stand, awaiting demolition.
Few Bostonians will mourn the traffic-clogged "distressway," which was replaced with 30 acres of green space as part of the city's Big Dig. The $14.6 billion project that buried the city's elevated highway and replaced it with parks is finally nearing its end after 12 years. Its completion, six years overdue, is scheduled for next year. The new underground highway has been open since last year.
Named for Boston Mayor John "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald, the expressway has been replaced by the Rose Kennedy Greenway, which was dedicated last July.
"I think Honey Fitz would not mind," Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), told the Boston Globe in July. "His highway has been replaced by a truly modern underground highway, clearing the way for a park that is named after his daughter."
