Tag Archives: interstate road work

Roadscapes Wednesday: I-59 Etowah County Construction Is Done

Posted on by
Reply

Roadscapes Geek Alabama

Well, well, ALDOT has finally finished the Interstate 59 construction in Etowah County.  It took them two years, yes two years to reconstruct 10 miles of Interstate.  Before the construction began, I-59 was in very poor shape.  Just take a look at these photos.

pancake-090pancake-089

Now, brand new concrete is in place and the drive is much smoother.  I am just glad this Interstate is in better shape.  It just should not have taken two years for the work to be done.  Here are some pictures of the new roadway.

road 2 022road 2 031road 2 034road 2 035road 2 041road 2 047road 2 050road 2 062road 2 060road 2 069

Related articles
About these ads

Roadscapes Wednesday: Interstate 20 Calhoun County Update

Posted on by
Reply

Roadscapes Geek Alabama

During the last week, I went out to Interstate 20 and took some picture updates.  The contraflow has now shifted onto the westbound lanes and the bridges on the westbound lanes are being rebuilt.  On the eastbound lanes, a much longer acceleration lane for traffic merging on from exit 185 has been built.  This is a huge improvement from the way the lanes were designed.  The entire project to widen I-20 to six lanes all the way to exit 188 is still ongoing and will be complete soon.  Enjoy the pictures!

stuff 097stuff 106stuff 111stuff 119stuff 143stuff 163stuff 181stuff 189stuff 207stuff 221stuff 229stuff 237stuff 245stuff 259stuff 267stuff 290stuff 291

Related articles

The Upcoming Interstate 20 Repaving Project

Posted on by
Reply

Picture1klxzpo Roadscapes Geek Alabama

This is something that has needed to be done for a long time now!  The only problem is it’s going to effect around 30,000-35,000 vehicles a day.  The eastbound lanes of Interstate 20 between the I-59 interchange and the I-459 interchange will close on Monday April 8th.  All through traffic will take I-459 around Birmingham.  Local traffic will continue on I-59 north and then take I-459 south to connect to I-20.  The closure is part of the Alabama Department of Transportation‘s $38.5 million I-20 refurbishing project.  Once the east bound lanes are done, the westbound lanes will close.  The work is expected to take three months on each side to complete.  Here is a detour map from ALDOT.

I-20EastTrafficDetour I-20WestTrafficDetour

So what do I think about this?  Well I do think this is badly needed!  The road is very bumpy, and you can barely see the road paint lines during the night.  I hope ALDOT has plans to fix all the Interstate lights.  Seriously, seeing rows of dark lights is an embarrassment.

food blog 165

This is not the only project going on.  Interstate 459 between U.S. 280 and Grants Mill Road will be resurfaced and re-striped in Birmingham and Mountain Brook for $8.6 million.  Work will begin this Spring and end around Labor Day Weekend.  Also the granddaddy of them all; ALDOT has plans to replace the Interstate 20/59 bridges through downtown Birmingham. One whole side will be shut down to replace the bridges.  This will create traffic chaos!

i-020_eb_059_nb_exit_125b_01

I have one BIG concern about the upcoming I-20 repaving project.  When you exit I-459 to merge onto I-20 East.  You have to merge into one lane to get on the highway.  When you have around 30,000 cars trying to merge into one lane, this is going to cause a problem!  ALDOT needs to create TWO lanes to merge onto I-20 eastbound.  To be honest, this needed to be done a long time ago.  I can just imagine the traffic crash reports on TV and Twitter because ALDOT was not smart enough to add another lane.  Another lane needs to be added!

i-20 ramp 2i-20 ramp

While this stretch is closed, maybe ALDOT will take a look at the interstate lights and this sign at the I-459 interchange.  There are not two lanes exclusively exiting the highway.

i-020_eb_exit_136_01

Related articles

Roadscapes Wednesday: ALDOT Bashing in Etowah County

Posted on by
Reply

One thing I love to do on Geek Alabama is do some ALDOT bashing.  The state department that is responsible for maintaining our highways has been wasting millions of dollars in the last few years on projects such as U.S. 98 in Mobile County, U.S. 280 in Birmingham, I-20 in East Alabama, I-759 extension in Etowah County, and I-59 in Etowah County among others.  It’s no secret some folks over at ALDOT does not like me talking about the bad roads in Alabama.  And yes they do want me Nathan Young and Geek Alabama gone forever!  But I am not going to stop talking about the bad roads in Alabama.  I want to start with the I-59 Etowah County project.  It’s been over two years and the project to replace the concrete is still not done!  Last weekend I went up to view the progress.  The bridge on south I-59 over U.S. 11 is complete.  And the concrete overlay looks like it’s done.  But this project should have been completed long ago!

At least the new concrete is better than what it used to be!  It’s a shame ALDOT let this road get so bad!

http://geekalabama.com/2012/05/09/roadscapes-wednesday-i-59-work/

Next I want to talk about the I-759 extension in Gadsden.  Recently there was a story in the Gadsden Times talking about the slow progress on this project.  The Federal Highway Administration continues to ask ALDOT to look at other possible “avoidance alternates” to the four proposed routes that were introduced at a public meeting eight years ago.  The four proposed routes are shown below.

Many officials in Gadsden and Etowah County don’t think they will see this road built-in their lifetimes.  The cost of this project, if it was built today would be around $100 million!  And currently the funds are not available.  FHWA is wanting ALDOT to find a route which does not adversely impact the neighborhood, the historic districts and (the) community in general.  This basically means they want a different route.  I have proposed a different route which I think would be better.  Why not take I-759 behind Gadsden State and connect it to College Parkway.  The 4-lane that ends at a chicken plant.

While I am on the I-759 talk; I watched traffic at the intersection of I-759 and AL 291 or George Wallace Dr.  The two traffic lights needs re-timing badly!  One light stays green with no traffic around while traffic on I-759 backs up.  Then when they get the green light they only see the Academy light turn red.  The backed up traffic then blocks the first intersection.  These signals needs to be re-timed!

During Steam Engine Day in Attalla, AL.  A police officer had to stop traffic on the green light to allow pedestrians to walk across.  The intersection has ped signals but they are not working!  Lots of traffic backed up on U.S. 431, U.S. 278 and U.S. 11 because some equipment was not working!  I am surprised no one got hit or an accident didn’t occur!

 

If ALDOT would maintain their roads in the first place I would not be going around and criticizing them.  I wish ALDOT would do a better job maintaining roads in Alabama.  And believe me; I am not going to stay quiet!

Related articles

 

Interstate 20 Alabama Updates

Posted on by
Reply

On my way back from Fiesta Birmingham I took some pictures of the latest happenings on that lovely accident prone Interstate we like to call I-20.  First off; I-20 is being repaved from   exit 135 Old Leeds Rd. to exit 140 the U.S. 78 Leeds exit.  You would think this would be a good thing but I have seen and heard complaints about the poor job the construction workers are doing.  One person has told me the pavement is not compacted down enough  and pieces of the asphalt are flying up in the air.  Someone else told me the workers are still working even during rush hour.  And during the work only one lane is open so this would create huge traffic backups!  I also noticed the pavement is not evenly smoothed out in stretches   This means when you switch lanes you will feel a bump.  This is all another crazy production from ALDOT.

Then I went through the western part of St. Clair County where work is still going on to 6-lane I-20.  This stretch during the road work has been prone to numerous wrecks.  And I have to wonder something here.  The bridges over Cook Springs Rd. and the nearby creek looks like they are done.  So why does the interstate traffic still have to shift over to the far right?  These lane shifts are dangerous and they need to be taken out!

The next stretch widening I-20 from Silver Run Rd. to exit 185 AL-21 in Calhoun County is progressing along.  The worst part of this road work is when I-20 east splits into two different lanes in a contraflow.  In the pictures below you see where an accident happened.  Several accidents have occurred in this stretch and I hope these bridge builder guys hurries up and finishes this work.

And the last part is the I-20 widening in Cleburne County.  Sure not much is currently going on but those rumble strips are annoying.  If you stay in the right lane through this road work you get to hear that great sound warning you that you are about to run off the road.  One would have thought they would have taken out these rumble strips before they shifted the lanes.  Watch the video below.  And yes; Geek Alabama loves to talk about the poor job ALDOT does to Alabama’s infrastructure.

Related articles

I-20 and I-59 Updates

Posted on by
Reply

This post is about updates to the road works on East Alabama Interstates.  The I-59 Etowah County Road work is trying to move along.  At least they are now putting asphalt over the old concrete lanes.

And the southbound I-59 bridge at US 11 is now gone!

Now for the I-20 updates.  The sinkhole detour is now gone and the westbound lanes are back to normal.  And the lanes in the Calhoun County work zone has moved to the newly paved median.  And on the eastbound side at exit 185 there is a contraflow situation set up.

Here is video of the right lane rumble strips on I-20 in the Cleburne County work zone.

Related articles

Roadscapes Wednesday: I-59 Work

Posted on by
Reply

This week on Roadscapes Wednesday I took some photos of a closed interstate.  Yep I went onto the closed portion of I-59 in the Etowah County work zone.  Both lanes of traffic are currently on the northbound side.  And the southbound side is currently closed and about to be worked on.  As you can see this work is really needed.

Related articles