One simple point…who will be able to afford to use this toll bridge? The poor workers who are already unable to get to jobs along 280? The public discussion seems to be focused on the poor suburbanites stuck in traffic…but maybe it’s the truly poor low-income workers who have to suffer a terribe public transit system that we should be planning for.

If Birmingham and ALDOT decide to add any more lanes to highways in Greater Birmingham, they should be HOV only – this would prove a much bigger bang for our tax buck and would motivate many to actually make the effort to find a carpool buddy.

Birmingham desparately needs a comprehensive transit plan. (Isn’t this one of RPC’s jobs?)At some point, city and state leaders have gotta step up and for once become proactive with respect to transit (and development in general!). An elevated band-aid on 280 will only treat the symptoms of congestion, and temporarily at that.

Lastly, I live in Helena and have two active railroad lines that pass within 300 yards of my house. It’s loud sometimes, but I’m used to it! There was a time in the not-to-distant past when passenger trains stopped at the Helena Depot on their way to and from Montgomery. If there was a passenger train that came through here that could get me back and forth to Birmingham every day, I’d proudly hang my car keys by the front door!

Two public meetings have been scheduled. Displays and graphics will illustrate items such as the U.S. 280 Corridor features, and describe the upcoming public involvement activities. Representatives from Figg Engineering Group and the Progress 280 Task Force will be on hand to meet with interested members of the community. A brief presentation on the project will be given at 3pm and 7pm describing how our community can create a vision to solve our U.S. 280 traffic congestion.

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EASTERN SEGMENT discussion (I-459 to Eagle Point Parkway)
Monday, August 28th @ Birmingham Marriott Hotel
3590 GrandView Parkway, off 280 south of I-459
2pm to 4pm OR 6pm to 8pm (both have same info)
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WESTERN SEGMENT discussion (Elton B. Stephens Expressway to I-459)
Tuesday, August 29th @ Birmingham Marriott Hotel
3590 GrandView Parkway, off 280 south of I-459
2pm to 4pm OR 6pm to 8pm (both have same info)
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Public transportation is the way to go.

Than a step to the riiiiiight.

Ok, that’s it for the time warp.

I do have to say that I’m surprised that the elevated toll road got the go ahead when we still have ozone alert days. When the area PSAs are promoting driving less due to air quality, the area planners are adding additional roadways to add to the volume of cars on the roads? Some how, that doesn’t make good sense to me. Fixing the buses and adding additional routes would be better than that.

We’ve had this conversation before, and I know you’ve said that it would take you at least 2 hours to get from your home to your work if you took the bus. That isn’t right either. And I don’t even want to think about the trip it would take to get to my day job on the bus. The DART shuttles downtown are nice for going up and down 20th Street and University Blvd, but are limited in other travel. Until we get a better transit system in place, we are going to continue with ozone alerts and pollution problems.

I love my car, too. Having the freedom to go wherever when I want is intoxicating. But it is also an expensive proposition. I just paid my car off and had maintenance done. So I spent close to $800.00 on my “freedom” this month, before gas, insurance, and tags. I’ve finally broken down and started to keep track of all of the expenses that are involved in owning my car. I’ll get a decent overview by the end of the year to see just exactly what is covered in those expenses. I suspect that it will be eye opening.

Zipcar looks to be an intriguing option. That could be a very interesting way to use a car. In the end something like that may be much less expensive than owning your own vehicle.

Thanks for bringing this up agin, and I hope you don’t have to add an ozone ticker to your blog.