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.
