Quote:
Originally Posted by Smoothcat
I was born in the Shoals and drive over to visit with my family every couple of months or so. I have long wished that 565 would be farther extended west - it's a pipe dream, but I'd love to see it some day follow AL 20 all the way to Muscle Shoals. Part of that would obviously require a new bridge such as this. But I have to wonder if a toll bridge would ever be able to pay for itself. I'm asking because I really don't know - are there enough people making an every day journey from the west side of Decatur to Athens/Madison/Huntsville? I suppose people just passing through might decide the bypass is worth it. I don't even know if I would use it, and I'm an impatient guy who hates traffic lights. While I'm fine with the idea of toll roads when funding seems to otherwise be a long shot, I'm not sure it's the best solution here. Maybe someone can prove me wrong?
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Very good questions. ALDOT is supposed to be doing a traffic study to figure out just how many of the roughly 50,000 cars a day that take the US 31 bridge are coming to town or just passing through. I haven't had to experience rush hour on the Limestone side in years, but when I still lived in Decatur if I didn't take I65 across the the river around 5:15 5:30 I'd be sitting AL20/US31 for about half an hour just trying to get from the 565/65 interchange to downtown. So, if I'm a resident of SW Decatur trying to get home from Huntsville I'm gonna pay the few bucks for the toll bridge instead burning the same amount in gas in traffic. Also, considering the amount of heavy industry along the river in NW Decatur, I think a lot of those companies would be very interested in shaving some time off travel and shipping.
As it is there are only only 6 lanes of road in each direction between a metro area of 150,000 and one of 430,000; there are more than that that cross the Black Warrior in Tuscaloosa.