Alabama Roads and Highways

[HSVTiger]

According to a consultant hired by ALDOT to help plan for future transportation needs, Alabama must come up with new revenue sources to build the roads, bridges and public transit systems that residents want. Any of us on this board could have told them that. Tolls and public-private partnerships were mentioned as possibilities to help fund future projects.

Montgomery Advertiser: Consultant says funds needed to improve roads

this is ALDOT's out on any project. They have no incentive or desire to complete any project. The question is why have they not completed projects on a timely basis that are funded?

[HSVTiger]

Has ALDOT become unable to provide basic service? This department cannot function in it's current format.

Decades of withholding funds, building projects that were not priority, poor planning, poor design have now caught up

with it. The tremendous growth around the state has put the focus on ALDOT and how it has and will hamper growth in this state.

By BOB LOWRY

Times Staff Writer [email protected]

MONTGOMERY - Huntsville scored a coup with the appointment of Rep. Randy Hinshaw, D-Meridianville, to the state's Legislative Transportation Committee.

Hinshaw, who is serving his second term in the Alabama House, replaced the late Rep. Albert Hall, D-Gurley, on the powerful committee. Hall died last November following his re-election.

The only other North Alabama representatives on the powerful joint House/Senate committee that reviews and approves the state highway department's five-year plans are Sen. Bobby Denton, D-Muscle Shoals, and its chairman, Rep. Frank McDaniel, D-Albertville.

Despite North Alabama's growing influence on the road committee, McDaniel painted a bleak picture Monday for the future of roadbuilding across Alabama because of rising costs.

"We could be facing the day that without either more federal or state funds," he said, "we'll struggle to maintain the roads we have rather than have new programs."

http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/ind....xml&coll=1

[kayman]

ALDOT ain't broke they are just stingy as hell when comes to funds and somebody is obviously lining their pocket also. HSVTiger, ALDOT STILL contracts out the majority of their projects althought McInnes swear that they were going to hired in-house engineers to do the work at the beginning of his tenure as the head of ALDOT back in 2005.

[aboutmetro]

I think the I-22 could be a great boon to Alabama and Georgia... it needs to go somewhere. A GA group's proposal to take it to Brunswick, GA docks would take Atlantic coast shipments from Georgia to the mid-west via I-22/Birmingham. If the B'ham officials jumped on board, they could use the momentum to get a 459 extension around NE B'ham... Much of the Eastward extension uses the recently widened US-280 so much of the project costs would be diminished.

[Southron]

Montgomery to Florida panhandle toll highway proposal

A Dothan company wants to build a billion dollar-plus toll highway from Bay County in the Florida Panhandle through the Wiregrass to Montgomery. Governor Bob Riley supports the project and is working on gaining the support of the Florida governor and FDOT. No word yet on the proposed route.

There's a link to video in the article below.

Dothan Group Proposes Toll Road from Florida to Montgomery

[Southron]

Officials in Chipley, FL confirmed that a limited access toll road between Montgomery and Panama City is under consideration. The $2 billion-ish project was to be announced at the May 15 meeting of the Washington County (FL) Commission, and will likely be discussed at the May meetings of the Houston and Geneva County commissions.

Montgomery to Panama City limited access toll road proposal confirmed

[Glenn]

An interesting announcement was made this week at the Dothan Chamber of Commerce by the economic development group, "Florida's Great Northwest", proposing the construction of an Interstate Quality Toll Highway to be built from Montgomery to Panama City.

See the link below for details:

http://www.floridasgreatnorthwest.com/Pres...080505-toll.pdf

[ATLman1]

It would be better in my opinion to extend I-185 from Columbus on down. More people travel from that way anyways.

[Southron]

Thanks for posting the info on the Florida group, Glenn.

More information on the proposal was released at a Monday press conference in Dothan. Plans call for the highway to be built in a public/private partnership between private investors; Houston, Geneva and Dale counties in Alabama; and Jackson, Bay and Washington counties in Florida. The highway could be built to interstate standards within five years and turned over to the individual counties after the road is paid for in 30 years, although there is currently no timeline for completion.

Focus 2000, an Alabama corporation, will design, build and operate the toll road. The route will follow the ALDOT-identified route west of Dothan in Alabama, but the Florida route hasn't been determined yet.

Counties asked to endorse toll road

Proposed route for the I-10 connector around Dothan

[Glenn]

^ Thanks for moving this to the correct thread Southron, sorry for my posting error & I really appreciate your assistance.

Very interesting proposal here...Dothan could end up with 2 interstate type highways coming it's way...I-185 from Columbus & this new road from Montgomery. That would bode well for the proposed "Country Crossings" development at 231 & AL 109.

St. Joe Co. is behind this new road also...they are really doing everything they can to make it easier to get people down to NW Florida...they have a lot of land & a lot at stake & need tons of people coming South to make it all work.

I will keep you guys posted on anything I hear down this way.

[Southron]

It must be the season for major new highway projects in Alabama. Lt. Gov. Jim Folsom Jr. wants to create a commission to study building the long-rumored Florence to Mobile highway through west Alabama. The project may be proposed as a toll road, similar to the recently announced Montgomery to Panama City highway.

Folsom wants commission to study west Alabama freeway

[codyg1985]

I remember this as being one of Jim Folsom Jr's campaign issues during his run for Lt. Governor. The West Alabama Freeway/Tollway project has been silent since the days of the Siegelman adminstration, who I believe was the last administration to push for the construction of this facility. To my knowledge, no serious studies or ROW acquisition has occured for this project.

[jmanhsv]

Ok... obviously Folsom and the rest of our corrupt Legislature needs to go look at a road atlas. First off, I really doubt too many Midwesterners travel down 43 to get to Mobile/the Alabama Gulf Coast. A much better route would be to take I-55 to Jackson, US 49 to Hattiesburg, and US 98 on to Mobile. Most of that route is straightforward and 4-laned (except for, of course, the Alabama portion...). Also, it would serve a sparsely-populated portion of Alabama, and most people from Huntsville, Birmingham, and Montgomery wouldn't need to use it. I doubt the traffic counts warrant a full-blown freeway. So there's really no point in building one. All that needs to be done is build a 4-lane/straightened out US 43, with freeway-standard portions north of Mobile, around Tuscaloosa, and maybe around some of the larger towns, similar to what Mississippi did to US 45. The state should concentrate its priorities to building the Florence-Huntsville-Atlanta highway, bypasses around the Big 4, and the Montgomery-Panama City tollway. This state really needs to quit blowing its money on "roads to nowhere".

[DruidCity]

All that needs to be done is build a 4-lane/straightened out US 43, with freeway-standard portions north of Mobile, around Tuscaloosa

Yes, I drove from Mobile to Tuscaloosa just this morning. The section from Mobile to Thomasville (roughly

half the trip ) is already nice. It's some of the road between Tuscaloosa and Thomasville that could

stand to be improved.

[Southron]

All that needs to be done is build a 4-lane/straightened out US 43, with freeway-standard portions north of Mobile, around Tuscaloosa, and maybe around some of the larger towns

I think you're right, jmanhsv, that there isn't a need for an interstate highway in that corridor. Hopefully the commission will make a reasonable recommendation.

According to the article linked below, Folsom's commission will make its recommendation for the highway during the 2009 legislative session. An ALDOT spokesman said the highway could cost $5 billion. Just think of how much light rail or other mass transit options we could get for $5 billion.

Highway north to Florence being studied

[Southron]

In October ALDOT announced it would cost at least $5.3 billion to build the 320-mile Florence to Mobile highway and take decades to complete. Lt. Gov. Folsom and other lawmakers would like to see the road built with a combination of public and private funding, with tolls charged along some sections. Sen. Roger Bedford says the project has "strong bipartisan support."

I'd much rather see $5.3 billion spent on statewide passenger rail or mass transit for our big four cities. We already have a north-south freeway in this state. It's called I-65.

Highway to Mobile would take public/private effort

[Southron]

^ Today in Mobile, ALDOT will provide an update on the proposed highway at a public meeting hosted by the Lieutenant Governor's Commission on Public Private Partnerships. Previous meetings were held in Hamilton and Demopolis.

Meeting in Mobile today to update highway plan

[Southron]

ALDOT officials say they could have 16 major highway projects worth $877 million ready for construction within 90 days if the proposed economic stimulus package is enacted. The projects include a $300 million I-65/Corridor X interchange, $78 million to widen I-20 between I-459 and Pell City, and $87 million to repave I-59 in Etowah County.

ALDOT can have 16 highway projects under way in three months

I hope any stimulus package includes mass transit and passenger rail funding as well.

[Southron]

Highway deaths in Alabama dropped 18 percent between October 2007 and October 2008. By comparison, highway deaths dropped 10 percent nationally in the same period. Much of the reduction can be attributed to a sharp decrease in miles driven, the largest decline since 1971.

ALDOT officials say that more barriers in the median on state highways played a part in the reduction as well. That's good news. ALDOT should delay a project or two and make our highways safer by putting barriers in place on all of our major highways, and not just in the median, on the sides as well.

Deaths on Alabama state highways down

[Southron]

ALDOT's wish list for transportation stimulus package funding is available from the Birmingham News in 6 .pdf files:

• State map of all proposed projects: Map
  
  
• Key to project numbers on the map: List
  
  
• Proposed federal road maintenance projects: Fed maintenance
  
  
• 90 to 120 day projects: 90-120 day projects
  
  
• 120 to 180 day projects: 120-180 day projects
  
  
• 180 day projects: 180+ day projects
  

There are a lot of projects all over the state, mostly repaving and bridge repair or replacement but also including some big-ticket items.

[dirt_diver]

Does anyone know about the change in road signs in Smiths Station, AL? They are going from Blue to Green but it's only some roads???

[Southron]

Does anyone know about the change in road signs in Smiths Station, AL? They are going from Blue to Green but it's only some roads???

Are you referring to the county road signs? Welcome to Urban Planet, dirt_diver!

[aboutmetro]

I-14 via Montgomery

New interstate from Augusta, GA to Natchez, MS and beyond

The Fall Line Freeway, originally proposed to be a limited access freeway, but later 'downgraded' to a 'developmental highway' by Gov Barnes, is back at the top of the list of Georgia DOT projects. The Freeway became the probable route for a proposed I-14 from Augusta to Natchez, MS. The former DOT Commissioner Evans says it is a 'new top priority' for Georgia as her administration looks for projects with a 'return on investment'. Lagrange Daily News article here where she spoke at a chamber breakfast on Nov 18, 2008. The quote is “One of the state’s first new priorities is an east-west corridor from Columbus to Augusta. There is no limited access highway in that area and there’s a tremendous amount of freight moving through there.”

Georgia's DOT is in turmoil these days, but hopefully the project will remain a high priority. It's likely Evans will be back as head of whatever GA's new DOT department looks like, since she's a Gov fav.

The project has taken on a live of it's own in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi where the Gulf Coast Strategic Highway Coalition has formed to promote the project in those states. Georgia and Alabama needs this kind of cooperation.

[kendal 8]

Does anyone know the current study of the expansion of the us 80 corridor in alabama extending from sumter county alabama and mississippi state line to russell county in alabama and to the georgia state line. I wish this expansion of the us 80 corridor would happen because phenix city in russell county and columbus in georgia in musogee county needs some sort of interstate or corridor running threw that area because of how fast the phenix city area in alabama is growing and the columbus area in georgia is growing because of brac that will be moving to that area bringing tons of people to that area and tons of jobs.

Below is the picture of the us 80 corridor expansion study I am talking about highlighted in the green in the picture.

[kayman]

Well, to my knowledge, it is still in its preliminary stages because of the project is far from being 'shovel-ready' to use the 2009 Federal Stimulus funds which would jump start any construction. I would say if anything you might be waiting awhile for this project because the only part of this project I believe we will see any progress will be the I-65 to Sumter County segment converting it to interstate standards so it can be the future I-85.