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Birmingham Big-Dig: Burying I-20/59 through downtown


codyg1985

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I'm going to try this once more. THERE IS NOT NOW AND HAS NEVER BEEN ANY PLAN TO DIG AN INTERSTATE TUNNEL THROUGH DOWNTOWN. The proposal is to lower the grade as a continuous cut and then deck over for street connections and a central plaza at the BJCC. I don't see why building 6 or 8 short bridges would have to be that much more expensive than rebuilding one really long bridge.
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When you described it like that, it is exactly what I believe will be done if I-20/59 elevated bridge is dismantled. It should be similar how I-75/85 was placed below grade in Downtown Atlanta. The exception is we should place a long deck over the majority of this grade cut so that there can be a central greenway or plaza created between the CBD and the BJCC Complex.
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  • 11 months later...
I'm going to try this once more. THERE IS NOT NOW AND HAS NEVER BEEN ANY PLAN TO DIG AN INTERSTATE TUNNEL THROUGH DOWNTOWN. The proposal is to lower the grade as a continuous cut and then deck over for street connections and a central plaza at the BJCC. I don't see why building 6 or 8 short bridges would have to be that much more expensive than rebuilding one really long bridge.
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This is an interesting development IMHO, considering the City Center is the mist of redeveloping. However, ALDOT non-position taking on this shows that even if the federal funds are allocated towards this project that it maybe another decade from any actual construction itself. They have a history of keeping federal funds in the bank just to gain interest off the money.

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This is an interesting development IMHO, considering the City Center is the mist of redeveloping. However, ALDOT non-position taking on this shows that even if the federal funds are allocated towards this project that it maybe another decade from any actual construction itself. They have a history of keeping federal funds in the bank just to gain interest off the money.
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An engineering study of lowering the interstate was presented to ONB, with a projected cost of up to $700 million and nearly 20 acres reclaimed for development. According to ONB the existing interstate is within seven years or so of its life cycle and could cost $125 million to repair or replace.

Proposal presented to Birmingham leaders calling for lowering I-20/59 downtown

LowerI-59.jpg

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Yeah, I was studying the designs and they remind me of how downtown Boston looks after the Big Dig, but on a more appropriate scale for downtown Birmingham. I think however that they should tie in the redesign of Malfunction Junction with the left hand exit ramps replaced with flyovers traversing the interchange instead. I would rather have a "Spaghetti Junction"-like interchange as the busiest one in the Alabama than one where you have to get in the left most lane of the freeway and then make sure you aren't forced to exit before your interchange like the current setup.

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An engineering study of lowering the interstate was presented to ONB, with a projected cost of up to $700 million and nearly 20 acres reclaimed for development. According to ONB the existing interstate is within seven years or so of its life cycle and could cost $125 million to repair or replace.

Proposal presented to Birmingham leaders calling for lowering I-20/59 downtown

LowerI-59.jpg

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As with so many things, the devil is in the details. Entrenching at a basic level just changes the method of dividing the city from a wall to a river (of cars/asphalt). It is the quality of the surface street overpasses that will determine how well the two sides connect.

Atlanta's Downtown Connector is a perfect example as it is entrenched or partially so throughout Midtown and for many years served as a substantial barrier to community and economic development westward from Midtown due to the basic automotive-oriented utilitarian designs of the street overpasses. That has been changing substantially with reconstruction of some of them with a eye towards improving the pedestrian and cycling experience/environment.

Compare the pedestrian experience of the North Avenue overpass (via Google Streetview) of 10' wide sidewalks sandwiched between chain link fencing and five lanes of traffic with the recently rebuilt Fifth St. overpass (image below) that serves to connect Georgia Tech's campus expansion on the east side of the Connector to the main land-locked campus on the west side.

139.jpg

The bridge is a full acre, most of which is a small park with barrier plantings that muffle traffic noise and visually hide the interstate below; you can cross it with practically no awareness that there are 16 lanes of traffic underneath you. Currently, the 14th St. bridge is being rebuilt with pedestrian- and bike-friendly features, though not nearly as elaborate as 5th St.

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  • 7 months later...

Shotty consstruction and lack of foresight when it came to the amount of growth of the Greater Birmingham area from the planners at ALDOT. They know they could redevelop that interchange back in the 1980's in the midst of the largest of the area's growth spurths until the recent one, but they chose to do nothing.

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