Jeffco Officials on Board with Mass Transit After Sept 07 Denver Trip

http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2007/09/jeffco_trio_touts_regional_tra.html

Letters, Faxes, and E-mail

"Letters, faxes, and e-mail"
Birmingham News, May 13th, 2007
http://www.al.com/opinion/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1179074724313810.xml&coll=2

"Different consultants, different plan for 280"
by Hannah Wolfson in the Birmingham News
May 3rd, 2007
http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2007/05/different_consultants_differen.html

"280 Plan has trees, low speed"
by Hannah Wolfson for the Birmingham News
Friday, May 4th, 2007
http://www.al.com/birminghamnews/stories/index.ssf?/base/news/1178266582323500.xml&coll=2

"Lack of unity imperil plans, experts say"
by Ginny McDonald for the Birmingham News
Saturday, May 5th, 2007

http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1178353011112420.xml&coll=2

"Must not stall on U.S. 280 - Pipeline or parkway?"
by Tom Scarritt for the Birmingham News
Sunday, May 6th, 2007
http://www.al.com/birminghamnews/stories/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1178439697247430.xml&coll=2

Will Slow & Steady Win 280 Pace?

http://bhamweekly.com/blog/2007/05/07/will-slow-and-steady-win-280-pace/

News, Opinion

April 20, 2007
"Progress 280 Gives Thumbs Up to Elevated Lanes
on Eastern Part of U.S. 280"
By Kelli Hewett Taylor, Birmingham News staff writer
The Progress 280 Task Force on Thursday voted unanimously to recommend the state continue research on building elevated lanes on U.S. 280 from Interstate 459 to Double Oak Mountain but delay further action on elevated lanes on the west side of I-459....
http://blog.al.com/hoover/2007/04/progress_280_gives_thumbs_up_t.html

April 19, 2007
"280 Road Trip"
By Phillip Jordan and Kyle Whitmire, Birmingham Weekly
If you've got time (and can beat the traffic), be at the Vestavia Hills Civic Center at 2 p.m. The Progress 280 Task Force is expected to offer its long-awaited recommendation after hearing a final report on community support for elevated lanes above Highway 280. The word is that the very vocal opposition along the Jefferson County stretch of 280 has spared those communities from Alabama's omnipresent answer to sprawl – more roads! However, the task force's consultant, Florida-based Linda Figg, says enough Shelby County residents want the double-decker along their five miles to go ahead and fire up those ALDOT engines. Admiral David Farragut may have been a Yankee (from Tennessee, no less – how did that happen?), but we bet he'd enjoy making this call: "Damn mass transit! Road contractors, full speed ahead!) Anyways, if you've got a dog in the race, be sure to show up and see if the task force indeed decides to do this thing halfway....
http://www.bhamweekly.com/2007/04/19/news-280-road-trip/

Tour de 280 Walk-a-Thon/5K Fun Run

Why?

To help fund the Glatting Jackson study of alternatives to an elevated Highway 280 and to raise awareness of the importance of this issue

When?
Sunday, April 29th, 2:00PM

The Tour de 280 Walk-a-Thon/5K Fun Run, organized by Gravlee Fitness, was held in the historic neighborhood of Homewood and the shopping district of Mountain Brook Village. The race/walk allowed participants to see why this area should not be damaged by the construction of an elevated highway.

Roads Chief: Elevated 280 May Not Be Possible

http://www.bizjournals.com/birmingham/stories/2007/03/26/daily10.html?f=et53&hbx=e_du

Removing Urban Freeways

United States | Op-Ed | Transportation

19 March 2007 - 9:30am

Author: Charles Siegel http://www.planetizen.com/node/23300

"Instead of reducing congestion, the freeways encouraged people to move to remote suburbs and drive long distances to work and to shopping, increasing traffic dramatically. One study found that, five years after a major freeway project is completed in California, 95% of the new capacity fills up with traffic that would not have existed if the freeway had not been built¹.

The freeways also blighted the older parts of our cities."

See also, "Removing Freeways-Restoring Cities - The Movement Has Begun!"

http://www.preservenet.com/freeways/

Musings on Bham's 280 by a California Native

Can’t go around it, can’t go under it, don’t want to go over it…

February 7th, 2007

Like the camp song says, “can’t go around it”… “can’t go under it”… “can’t go over it”. On the subject of Highway 280’s congestion problems, some want to “go over it”. Personally, I think it’s best to improve our way THROUGH IT....

http://curtispalmer.wordpress.com/2007/02/07/elevatedhighway280/

Reclaiming Urbanism and Revitalizing Cities

America's twentieth century highway building era included elevated freeways which cut huge swaths across our cities, decimating neighborhoods and reducing quality of life for city residents. This massive concrete infrastructure had devastating effects on urban economies. It blighted adjacent property and pushed access to basic amenities further out. With the Federal and State Departments of Transportation confronting shrinking budgets and cities looking for ways to increase their revenues, it is an ideal time to offer less expensive, urban alternatives to the reconstruction of urban expressways.

New York City, Portland, San Francisco, Milwaukee and Seoul, South Korea have confronted this problem by replacing elevated highways with boulevards, saving billions of dollars and increasing real estate values and economic development on adjacent land. The Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) and the Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) believe that teardowns offer an attractive option for cities struggling with aging highway infrastructure. The strategies are proving themselves in adding value and restoring urban neighborhoods decimated by highway construction.

"The Highwaymen"

Why you could soon be paying Wall Street investors, Australian bankers, and Spanish builders for the privilege of driving on American roads.
http://motherjones.com/politics/2007/01/highwaymen?page=1

It's Fast, but Dangerous, and Traffic Remains Clogged Below

Tampa Tribune reporters said that the trip on the El was 10mins in the rush hour compared to 20mins on the old lower lanes.

They got these quotes from motorists:

"Awesome," Aida Gonzalez of Valrico said after exiting the highway at Meridian Avenue and Twiggs Street. "Oh my God! It took like 10 minutes or so."
Elaine Cook said her first trip on the one-way highway was "fun" but "a little bit scary."

"I didn't want to be the first one on the news to go off the side," Cook said. "But it was nice looking down at all the people bumper-to-bumper into Tampa on the crosstown."

It grew from two lanes to 3 plus 2 shoulders

The project started as just two lanes in a deck about 11m (36ft) wide but grew to the present three 3.65m (12ft) travel land and a breakdown shoulder of 3m (10ft) on both sides for a total deck of 17m (56ft) over most of its length.

Construction of the Tampa El was traumatic

At 7:15am April 13 2004, a Tuesday, with the project about two-thirds done workers on a section of the El atop Pier 98 felt a sway and heard rumbling. As they scrambled down ladders the pier was starting to sink into the ground. Broken concrete rained down on cars traveling in the regular lanes alongside. No one was seriously hurt but the pier ended up 3.6m (11 ft) down.

URS fight goes on

URS and the expressway authority have been through protracted arbitration but this has failed to get a resolution. The tollroad is taking them to court to determine compensation.

At least the pike hasn't had to go cap in hand to the state. Tolls - going up soon - will service the additional bonds floated to cover the extra costs.

Relations with URS are still awful.

Thomas Gibbs, chairman of the Tampa expressway authority (THCEA), said Monday: "This is a URS toll. We are having to raise tolls because of all this (collapse and repair) much sooner than we expected."
Tolls at the mainline plaza will increase from a low of 25c to a still low 50c (5c a mile is now a rural toll. Most urban tolls are in the 10c to 30c/mile range.)

The toll increase had been planned for 2009.

Traffic Congestion Remains Below Tampa's Elevated Highway

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=359012&page=3

Tampa's Highway Collapses

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/07/18/Tampabay/Today__some_will_take.shtml

Why Build an Elevated Highway? Follow the Money!

There is no doubt a growing traffic problem on U.S. 280. And the communities in opposition to the elevated highway are equally committed to solving the problem! But an elevated highway at a projected cost of a billion dollars (based on the $80 million per mile of Figg’s 3-lane Tampa project) is not the only solution, particularly when other more practical less costly solutions are available. (see links to Austin, TX tollway below)

Most people are not fooled by the slick presentations promoting this highway as ‘art’ or a ‘parkway garden experience’. There is obviously not a plant alive which can survive in a traffic median under an 80’ concrete roof in the precious little remaining construction dirt between massive support columns. But the fact that the highway is being represented in such a way calls into question first the credibility of its proponents, and as a result, raises additional questions that have never been addressed.

However, in addition to the disturbing issues below, there is the far more compelling issue that IT WILL NOT SOLVE THE PROBLEM!

MISLEADING ISSUES:

• So why is this elevated highway being promoted with misleading and out-of-scale drawings touting its beauty and unrealistic landscaping rather than addressing the real issues as well as alternatives?

• Why are meetings carefully orchestrated to deny the public’s vocal and active participation?

• Who will see the public’s written comments, which at Figg’s insistence were deposited in a box, other than Figg Engineers?

COST ISSUES:

• Since column failures caused massive and unexpected overruns in Tampa, has Birmingham’s porous geography dotted with abandoned coal mine tunnels even been considered in the cost?

• Tampa’s construction costs (which are being used for a cost projection model) are for only 3 lanes of one-way traffic, vs. the projected 6 to 8 lanes for the Birmingham project.

• Exactly who is supporting its construction and why?

• If an elevated highway is built down the middle of 280 from downtown to 459, grade separations and/or urban exchanges to solve the local traffic problem would be impossible unless the highway was demolished at enormous additional expense.

HISTORICAL ISSUES;

• Elevated highways in other cities have led to blight and are being demolished for greenways (see links to articles below)

• This includes the famous Embarcadero Freeway in San Francisco.

• Elevated highways are historically poorly maintained.

• Elevated highways historically reduce property values in the surrounding areas.

TRAFFIC SOLUTION ISSUES:

• The documented percentage of cars removed from traffic is less than 25% based on Figg’s elevated highway in Tampa. Their completed highway appears to be ineffective in solving the traffic problem, leaving the remaining 75% of motorists in gridlock below. (see link to article below)

• Again, potential future urban overpasses north of 459 to solve the gridlock between 459 and downtown would be impossible with an elevated highway in the median.

• No one believes that the construction of the monolith would be ‘non-disruptive’ simply because it’s in the median.

SAFETY ISSUES:

• Why is the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) changing their own rules regarding highway safety to accommodate the highway?

• Note that Vestavia is in the process of removing trees in the median due to their safety hazard.

• The concrete support columns are projected to be 10 feet square and certainly much less ‘forgiving’ than the 3” trunk of a Bradford pear.

• Concrete columns every 140’ will interfere with sight lines at intersections which is in violation of ALDOT’s safety guidelines.

• How high do the barriers have to be to prevent accidents like the recent schoolbus accident in Huntsville which injured 30 and killed 7?

• How would accidents be handled with limited access?

LOCAL STEWARDSHIP:

• The communities in the western section of 280 (including Homewood and Mountain Brook) have tried to limit access, the eastern section has allowed unlimited access with virtually no side access roads, and most proponents are from the eastern section.

• Rampant development with unlimited access to 280 south of 459 is the primary cause of the current problem.

• However, property values would be reduced in the areas with the record of the best stewardship and maintenance.

• Access and traffic solutions in the areas with the best stewardship are not addressed.

FOLLOW THE MONEY ISSUES:

• Who will be receiving the benefit of the tolls and the elevated highway?

• Can we study the cost effectiveness of tolls as a return on construction cost?

• What public funding will be necessary and where will it come from?

• Was the initial $200,000 raised by Progress 280 adequate to fund this initiative, and if not, who is advancing the promotional money?

• Paid by tolls only? The State implies that this highway would be paid for completely by the people who use it. At $3/car for at the most 20,000 cars per day – that’s $21 million a year to pay for all expenses of maintenance as well as amortize $1 billion. It can’t be done even in the most optimistic projections!

ALTERNATIVES:
What are the less expensive, more practical alternatives?

Grade separations or Urban overpasses at key intersections, i.e. Cherokee Road, Rocky Ridge, The Summit, Cahaba Village, etc.

• would eliminate the need for traffic lights at intersections and allow traffic to flow uninterrupted

• would be far less costly

• would be funded by state and federal money (which the state would prefer not to contribute)

• would allow for additional growth at future intersections

• would be more far more attractive

• would solve the gridlock north of 459

• would enable easier maintenance and landscaping

• would be safer with better visibility

Aren’t urban overpasses much less expensive and less environmentally invasive than an elevated highway? Wouldn’t they solve our local problem north of 459, as well as allow the fast access to areas south of 459?

These were the legitimate questions that our communities raised in the belief that this was a ‘done deal’, and that the presentations were for public relations only.

The opponents of this project are realistic enough to assume that progress is inevitable. But they are also the people most affected by this patented product presented as an easy solution. At the last meeting, a highway proponent made a compelling argument for the elevated highway by saying, “Solutions since 1983 have been presented and rejected by you people, and it’s about time you accepted SOMETHING!” Frustration is no reason to accept a flawed concept. And none of the previous concepts involved a BILLION DOLLARS! Maybe now’s the time to take another look at the previous solutions.

Let’s follow the money! It’s likely to be your taxpayer dollars. Will it benefit you? Do you want to be railroaded into an elevated highway without considering the alternatives?

Governor Riley Endorses Elevated Highway

http://www.tollroadsnews.com/node/1263

San Francisco Boulevard of Dreams: Hayes Valley Freed of Freeway

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/09/08/BAGBFEJVE21.DTL

Use San Francisco's Experience

SAN FRANCISCO Boulevard of dreams, the premiere Hayes Valley freed of freeway--
Thursday, September 8, 2005

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/09/08/BAGBFEJVE21.DTL

(San Francisco Mayor Art) Agnos has no regrets over his battles and points to the renaissance along the Embarcadero -- now free of a foreboding elevated freeway -- as a shining example.

"We obviously are the model for the rest of the country in terms of what a city really can do to take advantage of the enormous benefit of demolishing a series of freeways that cut across the city, leaving scars," he said. "The social benefits and economic benefits are tremendous.

How Will the Elevated Highway Be Constructed?

One big 'Lego project'

Concrete segments for the Brandon Parkway are cast at the Port of Tampa, and will be joined later to form the elevated road.

By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER
© St. Petersburg Times
published April 25, 2003 http://www.sptimes.com/2003/04/25/Brandontimes/One_big__Lego_project.shtml