Roads, roads, everywhere...

An insightful reader has noticed that much of the recent news has focused on expansion and refurbishment of area roadways, without paying much attention to the other pieces of the transit puzzle - namely, public and alternative transportation.

There's a very good reason why, but it's one that touches off of a lot of nerves around here. Yes...  as usual, the issue lies with the (in)famous Alabama Constitution of 1901. ALDOT's interpretation of the state constitution prohibits it from funding transportation projects other than the construction and refurbishment of roads and bridges. There's a useful fact sheet that summarizes the key issues: Alabama Roadblock - Our Public Transit Gap .

Without trying to editorialize too heavily, this restrictive interpretation of ALDOT's mission has set Alabama's public and alternative transit back by decades. In most states, municipal transit ventures depend on matching funding contributions from state governments to get started. Even in the absence of state funding, Alabama's cities have created public transit systems, but cities have had to shoulder the entire cost of such projects. If the Huntsville Shuttle is any reflection, the consequence is transit systems which offer outdated equipment, limited routes, and a level of service that doesn't meet the needs of the community. This also makes it difficult to create transit systems serving regional areas across multiple cities or counties.

The story is much the same when it comes to alternative transit: ALDOT's attitude is that it isn't their business, and the weight of burden lies with local communities to encourage transit alternatives and improvements and to construct such amenities as bike paths. Ironically, the failure to adopt such alternatives increases the long-term expense of maintaining and improving area roadways. Given the sheer cost of road projects (such as the $3 million/mile figure for the current AL-53 widening), alternative transit and effective public transit would create a useful increase in the capacity of area roads at lower cost.

Until we see reform in Constitutional language and the attitudes of state lawmakes, the status quo will continue. The most effective way to press for alternative transit will be to lobby local officials to demand such services and to support existing transit alternatives. A pre-BRAC study commissioned by the City of Huntsville showed that road construction alone will not solve congestion issues, and alternative transit means need to be considered.

Outlook 2021

On Sunday, the Huntsville Times ran its Outlook 2021 section, featuring a host of articles about what the Huntsville area will look like 10 years from now. An article on road projects provided a good refresher of the area's road construction progress and what remains to be done. Here are some of the major projects on the schedule:

• 2012: Complete widening of AL-255 between University Dr. and AL-53.
• Sparkman and Max Luther overpasses of Mem'l Pkwy to be completed late in year.
• Begin widening of Old Madison Pike between Slaughter Rd. and Thornton Research Park
• Construct I-565 interchange at County Line Rd.
• 2014: Build 3-lane southbound bridge for US-231 (Mem'l Pkwy) at Tennessee River
• 2016: Build Mem'l Pkwy overpasses at Byrd Spring and Lily Flagg; redesign Martin Rd. interchange.
• 2017: Begin final phase of AL-53 widening from Pinedale Rd. to state line in Ardmore. 

Several projects will take place within the Huntsville city limits:

"The city has plans to widen Martin Road from Zierdt Road to Laracy Drive; widen Zierdt Road from Martin Road to Madison Boulevard; and widen Zierdt Road from Martin Road to Beadle Lane; and smaller projects on U.S. 72 at Balch, Nance and Jeff roads.

Widening of Meridian Street between Pratt and Oakwood avenues has begun, and the widening and relocation of Church Street between Monroe Street and Oakwood Avenue is set to start next year.

The city also intends to improve the intersection at U.S. 431 and Dug Hill Road this year, widen Winchester Road from Dominion Circle to Naugher Road, and extend Greenbrier Road from I-565 to Browns Ferry Road to create a connection with the I-65 interchange at Tanner."

Targeting Congestion

Lately, there has been plenty of talk related to the new Target store opening in northwest Madison in 2012. But the focus hasn't been so much on Target but rather its soon-to-be neighbor across the street - Wal-Mart - and the impacts of two new big-box stores on already-congested US-72.

It's not surprising that Wal-Mart and Target are choosing to expand in the westerly direction. These stores are following the path of development to western Madison Co. and eastern Limestone. However, only one major road carries all of the traffic from this area to Huntsville - U.S. Highway 72. As noted in an Huntsville Times article on US-72 , the road is shaping up to be one of the area's most congested corridors.

Relief isn't coming any time soon, either. Although the widening of US-72 to seven lanes to the county line is in the ALDOT transportation plan, the project's $16 million price tag is not funded. Regional governments have approached Governor Bentley to ask for $2.5 million to fund the engineering studies needed for the expansion. In any case, it will be years before that stretch of US-72 is widened. Once the road is widened, more development will follow, meaning that the corridor will only be relieved of congestion for a few years after widening completes.

What can be done in the meantime, given that road widening isn't a near term option? The usual pieces of advice apply:

• Carpool: It's always a good way to reduce the load on area roads, and it's something that can be done right away. The traffic volume on the stretch of US-72 is more than 300,000 vehicles each day. Even if only a small percentage of this volume carpools, it will be a difference in terms of congestion. With so many area residents commuting to Research Park or Redstone Arsenal, this area is ideally suited to carpooling. Huntsville and Madison have the responsibility to aggressively promote carpooling and offer incentives.
• Park-and-Ride: The area is overdue for Park-and-Ride bus services. Think of it as carpooling, taken a step further. The cost of operating a Park-and-Ride route from the county line to Research Park is much, much less than the cost of widening US-72. To further reduce costs, low-use Huntsville Shuttle routes should be retired and re-purposed as Park-and-Ride routes along congested corridors. This has the added benefit of making the Huntsville Shuttle more profitable for the city, and it provides an immediate solution to congestion as well.
• Transit: Convenient transit around Research Park and Redstone Arsenal would go a long way toward helping carpoolers and park-and-ride commuters get where they need to go.

I know what you're thinking... "Carpooling and transit will never work here, because everyone loves their cars!"  That may be true...  but just how much fun is it to drive a car in traffic at a complete standstill? Clearly, congestion on US-72 is going to get worse before it gets better, and there's no road-widening solution in sight. We've reached the tipping point where alternatives - buses and carpools - need to be considered, because there aren't any other good options.

Highway 53 Update

The widening of AL-53 north of Huntsville has been on the books for some two decades. Now, there is hope that some progress can be made on this project.

A December 3 bid sheet announced that Reed Contracting of Huntsville had the low big on a contract to widen 4.6 miles of AL-53 between Jeff Road and AL-255 (Research Park Blvd.). Recently, the Huntsville Times stated that Reed would begin construction starting March 7. Reed is already working a number of other big projects in the area, including the widening of the freeway portion of Research Park Blvd. in the same vicinity.

Eventually, the state plans to widen AL-53 to four or five lanes from Huntsville to the Tennessee state line. However, progress has been impeded by funding shortfalls and, more recently, lawsuits. A right-of-way dispute over property near Burwell Rd. has further delayed the widening, and ALDOT is currently in court to resolve the issue. (link)

Ailing Bridges Force Costly Detours

From an article in the Decatur Times Daily, school buses are being forced to detour around decrepit bridges in the area. The detours incur substantial additional mileage, costing school systems money and resulting in much longer bus rides for students.

In Lauderdale County, detours around the present 20 decrepit bridges cost the school system an additional $340,000 in fuel costs. The average cost of bridge replacement, according to the article, is $125,000. For the price of the extra fuel, nearly three bridges could be upgraded each year. The longer the bridges are left ill-maintained, the more money is wasted. The story is similar in other counties in North Alabama.

The county road engineers claim that there is not enough money to replace ailing bridges with the appropriate frequency. Considering the extra costs to the school systems - not to mention the impediment such bridges pose to economic development - it seems like updating infrastructure should be a top priority.

Winchester Road Update

Winchester Road Widening

Winchester Road, a heavily traveled secondary arterial, is being surveyed for future widening according to a Huntsville Times article.

A stretch of Winchester Road near Moores Mill Road has been under construction since 2008. In 2013, Phase 1 construction will extend the widened portion of the road to Naugher Road.  The second phase, starting in 2018, will extend the widening to Bell Factory Road and will include bike lanes and sidewalks.

Old Madison Pike Widening

An article in the Huntsville Times reports that the city of Huntsville will be accepting public comments regarding the widening of Old Madison Pike between Slaughter Rd. and the Thornton Research Park.

From the article:

"The city and the state Department of Transportation have scheduled a March 1 public hearing for the project's corridor and design. The hearing will be from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Pope John Paul II Catholic High School multipurpose room at 7310 Old Madison Pike. The easiest way to reach the room is from the back of the school."

The article states that the proposed widening will include four lanes with a grass median and new bridges over Indian Creek. No mention is given as to whether bike lanes would be incorporated. As a connector to the multi-modal transit hub at Bridge Street, it would be great to add bike lanes to this road.

Redstone Gate Traffic Survey

Redstone Arsenal is conducting an employee survey to assess the traffic and usage of the Arsenal gates:

"Traffic Engineers from the Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command (SDDC) are conducting an Arsenal-wide traffic study. This study will be used to assess the functionality of the access control points (ACPs) for Redstone Arsenal. As part of the study, SDDC Engineers have prepared an online origin-destination survey consisting of seven questions."

These are the survey questions:

What general direction do you live in relation to Redstone?
What building do you work in?
What gate do you use most commonly to enter the Arsenal in the morning?
At approximately what time do you enter through the gates in the morning?
What gate would you prefer to use in the morning if neither traffic delays nor hours of operation were an issue?
How many times to you use the gates in a typical day?
Do you have any any suggestions or comments regarding the gates?

It's interesting that the Arsenal is using a voluntary survey to gather traffic information. The traffic counts employed by the City of Huntsville can gather much of the same information but in a more objective sense. Still, it is encouraging that the Arsenal is assessing its traffic conditions and trying to better handle the large number of vehicles that enter and leave the Arsenal each day.

Where We Travel

The City of Huntsville has put together a great resource, the Traffic Count Map. Compiled in 2010, the map shows how much traffic volume area roads typically see each day. Different colors indicate the classification of local roads (arterial, collector, etc.).

This map is great for transit planning because it provides such a clear idea of where people are traveling from and to. For instance, over 50,000 trips per day are made on the westernmost portion of I-565. The traffic on that route mostly corresponds to traffic coming from Decatur to work in Huntsville. Almost 95,000 trips are made through the several gates of Redstone Arsenal each day. The busiest roads in the area, by volume, are I-565 and Memorial Parkway near where the two intersect in downtown Huntsville. Each carries some 100,000+ vehicles per day. And about 50,000 trips per day are made on US-72 / University Dr. between Madison and the Cummins Research Park.

Traffic counts are essential when considering how to manage congestion, improve area roadways, and develop a transit system. These traffic counts confirm what any area resident already knows - that many of those who work in the Huntsville area travel from well outside Huntsville to get to work. Thus, any effective transit plan needs to consider how to accommodate the large fraction of commuters traveling 10+ miles each way to get to work. Due to the structure of growth in the Huntsville area, with new housing and commercial development mainly focusing on points outside the city limits, this fraction will only continue to increase in future years.

Where We Stand: Congestion

In 2007, the City of Huntsville commissioned a study by the University of Alabama to examine the effects of the 2005 BRAC on the area's economic and transportation network. Among other things, the report analyzed the area's roadways and reported current congestion and predicted future congestion.

The map shows the major roadways in the Huntsville areas with predicted 2010 traffic levels. Those in black are operating at nominal levels of congestion. The thin red lines indicate congestion, while the thicker red lines show areas of bad congestion. "V/C" means the ratio of Volume to Capacity. Roads with V/C greater than one are carrying more vehicles than they can effectively move.

The areas showing the worst congestion will not surprise most area residents: Highway 53, Zierdt Rd., and sections of Old Madison Pike, I-565, and Memorial Parkway. On Redstone Arsenal, congestion is shown on Patton Rd., Toftoy Throughway, and at Gate 9. Some of these trouble spots have received attention since this study was done. Others, such as Hwy. 53 and Madison Pike, continue to present traffic headaches even though resolution is not clearly in sight.

Why a Transit Blog?

Few issues are more important to the Tennessee Valley than transit and transportation. The region's strong growth has brought many new residents - and a corresponding increase in traffic. However, as the commissioned BRAC Economic and Transportation Impact Report noted, the Huntsville area cannot simply "build its way out of congestion". Effective transit requires the efforts of all stakeholders - communities, citizens, governments, and businesses. This blog will aggregate transit-related information in the hope of furthering the communication needed for proper transit planning.

The topics of transit and transportation encompass much more than just roads and traffic. To make transit work effectively, one must look at where people are going, how they travel there, and how that process can be optimized. Transportation in the Huntsville area is almost exclusively in terms of travel by car, but continued growth in the Huntsville area implies that the region will become choked by congestion without investment in better alternatives.

The benefits of an effective transit system are numerous. Beyond the quality-of-life improvements, a working transit system  is an engine for economic growth. Huntsville Development News already provides a great resource on economic developments of interest to the region. Huntsville Area Transit News will be a counterpart, from a perspective of transit planning.