Transportation Reform in Alabama
Case Summary
Like other transportation departments throughout the South, the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) too often relies on building new or expanded highways to solve traffic problems. And too often, these highways result in sprawl development, increased air and water pollution, and even more traffic. SELC is working at several levels to change the way ALDOT approaches transportation planning and to stop the most wasteful, environmentally harmful projects from moving forward.
Birmingham at a Crossroads
Birmingham and the surrounding communities have taken many steps to begin to fashion the region into a vibrant urban center with a healthy economy and environment. For example, the city of Birmingham ranks #1 nationally for the amount of green space per capita (17.9 acres). However, ALDOT is pushing two major highway projects whose designs harken back to the 1950s and 60s, and would set the region back in terms of achieving a sustainable, modern transportation system.
The Northern Beltline
The proposed 52.5-mile highway would loop northwest of the Birmingham metro area through the watersheds of the Cahaba and Black Warrior rivers. The highway, and resulting development that would follow, would threaten these important sources of the community's drinking water. It would also bring more traffic, exacerbating air pollution in a region that is already flirting with violation of federal health standards. And at an estimated $3 billion, the beltline would consume a majority of scarce ALDOT resources.
Business interests in Birmingham have formed the Coalition for Regional Transportation dedicated to fast-tracking the Northern Beltline. This is a short-sighted view for Birmingham's transportation future. Beltways around cities were the reigning mindset of transportation planners decades ago. Today, many urban centers in the South and around the country are fading because huge beltways and bypasses have siphoned off economic growth.
See our separate case page on this project.
U.S. Highway 280
Sprawling development southeast of Birmingham has choked U.S. Highway 280 with traffic, giving rise to a plan to build a costly elevated toll road that would provide only temporary relief for Birmingham commuters, push sprawl even further out from the city, and ultimately increase traffic and drive times.
ALDOT proposes to widen Highway 280 to ten lanes through Mountain Brook and Homewood and add an elevated toll road through Inverness. Everyone agrees that Highway 280 has a traffic problem, but rather than addressing the root cause, the project sends the problem further out into Chelsea for another generation to face. It is far from clear whether Highway 280 project would pay for itself even with a sizeable toll.
Another outdated concept like beltlines, elevated highways draw business away from existing shops and lead to blighted areas underneath. In fact, more localities in the U.S. are tearing down elevated highways than building new ones.
A Path to the Future
Despite being presented as our only options, the Northern Beltline and elevated 280 are transportation dinosaurs. Both projects would have profound impacts on our air and water quality, and both would derail sustainable development in our region.
We need to work together as a community to meet our transportation challenges with innovative and effective solutions that protect our environment and enhance our quality of life. There are numerous opportunities in metro Birmingham to improve existing transportation infrastructure and expand public transit. Regional transportation problems can be greatly relieved by upgrading road connections, improving secondary roads and access points, repairing existing roads and bridges, and broadening public transportation options, like bus and rail.