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.