[rolltider]

I have lived in Shelby County and worked in downtown Birmingham for the last 18n years. In those 18 years I have watched traffic get progressively worse on I-65 and during that time there has been absolutely no improvements from the US 31 interchange in Vestavia to the 3rd Ave North exit downtown. The only work done along that 8 mile stretch in 18 years is patching of potholes.

In addition to the heavy increase in local rush hour traffic in the last 18 years the hiway carries all north-south through traffic including trucks. Add to that the fact there the highway crosses Shades Mountain which slows trucks down to a point where traffic comes to a complete stop.

Then to further compound the problem ALDOT widened I-65 from the tank farm to Hiway 119 a few years ago. Now that traffic flows freely the point at which it is widened until it hits merging traffic from 119, Valleydale Rd, I-459 then Hiway 31 just before the long trek up Shades Mountain.

Most cities the size of Birmingham have bypass routes for thru traffic and many cities do not allow thru trucks to travel through their downtown area. Birmingham has a bypass to the south (or east, depending on how you look at it) for I-20/I-59 and is building, over the next 20 to 30 years, another bypass to the north for I-20/I-59.

As far as I know there are absolutely no plans for relief of north/south traffic on I-65 even though there is no section of hiway in this state that is in more need of maintenance and improvement.

I believe there needs to be pressure put on ALDOT to rebuild and widen I-65 from I-459 to the I-20/I-59 interchange downtown and major improvements to to the Hiway 31, Lakeshore, Oxmoor and University interchanges.

Responses and comments appreciated.