Ahah! I found it... I knew I wasnt crazy. It says construction to begin in June.
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State buys, appraises land for beltline
Friday, November 12, 2004
GINNY MacDONALD
News staff writer
State transportation officials have started buying property for the
Northern Beltline and are appraising additional large land tracts for
the proposed corridor route.
The state has spent $6.6 million for beltline land acquisition and
design. Construction on the beltline, which has been touted for 30
years, is scheduled to begin in June.
Land buys have been primarily along the beltline segment between
Alabama 75 and Alabama 79 near Pinson.
"We are purchasing land that is on the verge of developing," said Don
Arkle, design bureau chief for the Alabama Department of
Transportation.
Beltline plans do not include an interchange at U.S. 31 near
Gardendale or extending the beltline eastward past Interstate 59 to
I-20, which St. Clair County officials had sought.
The 51-mile beltline would complete the bypass loop around Birmingham
that began when I-459 was completed in 1984. When finished, the
beltline will connect I-459 at Bessemer and I-59 near Moody.
Transportation officials have asked consultants designing the beltline
to cut costs. Vaughn said that could include shorter interchange
ramps, which would require less land.
"But if it is not a significant savings, we're not going to do it,"
DOT Deputy Director Don Vaughn said.
Right of way for the beltline is expected to cost $150 million, Vaughn
said.
Another cost-cutting measure proposed would be having the north and
south traffic lanes at different elevations to limit the amount of cut
needed into mountainous terrain and to reduce the amount of fill in
valleys.
Another would have the median barrier erected all along the beltline
and the outside lanes used for future widening. The beltline had been
designed with the center shoulder wide enough to accommodate future
extra lanes.
State transportation officials said that a beltline interchange with
U.S. 31 at Gardendale would be too close to other beltline
interchanges and to I-65 interchanges with I-22 (Corridor X).
But if there is a public outcry, the Gardendale interchange could be
added back to the plan, said Birmingham DOT Division Engineer J.F.
Horsley.
Changes to the beltline route have been made since it was first
designed in 1996.
Several were necessary to avoid housing and business developments.
Another major shift will be the 12-mile segment between Bayview Lake
and Bessemer to bypass a quarry opened after the design.
Will stop at Moody:
The beltline will end in the Moody area at I-59. Highway officials do
not plan to extend it to I-20 near Pell City, Vaughn said. A group
from Pell City has asked the state to look at the feasibility of
bringing the beltline around to I-20.
"We looked at it, and it is not the thing to do," Vaughn said. "It
would have cost $60 million and would not have had enough of an effect
on traffic volume to justify the extra cost. It can remain a separate,
stand-alone project."
Highway officials say the beltline won't be completed before 2020, but
segments will open as they are finished.
Transportation and trucking company officials say the beltline would
lessen the chance of trucks wrecking and destroying bridges in
Malfunction Junction, the state's busiest interchange.
Last month, the I-20/59 North bridge was destroyed by an exploding
tanker. In 2002, the I-65 South bridge in the junction was destroyed
by an exploding tanker.
"You can't ban the trucks from the junction unless you have somewhere
else to route them," DOT's Mike Mahaffey said.
And Birmingham is the only major city on I-65 without a bypass.
Truck traffic headed north has no way to go except through downtown at
Malfunction Junction, said Gene Vonderau of the Alabama Trucking
Association. "Truckers would love to be able to go around, and it will
be a tremendous help when we get the Northern Beltline completed,"
Vonderau said.
E-mail:
gmacdonald@bhamnews.com