Plans to revamp the I-20/59 interstate that runs through the heart of Birmingham has sparked a fight between community activists and the Department of Transportation. Photo by Ian KeelMark Linn - Copy Editorcopy@insideuab.com
One unique aspect to being a student or employee at UAB is that, for good or ill, you attend or work at an urban campus.
Where the university stops and the city begins is ill-defined and, like it or not, the UAB community is part of the Birmingham community. There are downsides to this: traffic, bad parking and limited space. But it also means having access to many opportunities not available at non-urban colleges.
Downtown Birmingham is currently experiencing an urban renaissance, spurred by economic development around additions like Railroad Park. This revitalization has fed a new battle over the heart of Birmingham: Interstate 20/59, which runs through downtown.
Many community leaders say this concrete barrier has had long-running negative impacts on the economic, environmental and cultural health of the city and that the city has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to address it.
The portions of the interstate that run through Birmingham, known as the I-20/59 downtown viaduct, were completed in 1971. The original design was constructed to accommodate 80,000 vehicles each day. Today, the stretch of highway has the highest traffic-flow rate in Alabama, with twice the number of vehicles it was intended to accommodate passing over it each day. By 2035, the Alabama Department of Transportation estimates that this number will increase to more than 225,000 vehicles per day.
ALDOT’s plan, which is currently being implemented, seeks to reinforce the existing structure while adding more lanes and removing several downtown exits. The original plan simply called for a repair and maintenance project for the viaduct, but was later expanded to improve safety and traffic flow. The plan widens the deck from six lanes to 10, increases the height of the bridge and replaces steel girders with concrete. With the plan, most existing entry and exit ramps in the downtown area would be closed. The widened interstate would cut closer to the Sheraton and Westin hotels, as well as the new Uptown Entertainment District and other downtown entities.
“The urgent matter now is that the bridge has got to have something done with it,” said DeJarvis Leonard, the head engineer for the East-Central Region of Alabama. “Now whether you agree with re-decking or you say reconstruction we’re looking at it from a convenience stance to the public. And that’s what we’re doing our best to try to make that operate the best we can for the next 20 to 30 years, because what’s what Birmingham will have to live with until another corridor can be developed if that’s even possible.”
Opponents of the plan agree that immediate safety concerns need to be met, but contend that alternatives to simply reconfiguring the existing structure, such as lowering the highway below ground level or moving it altogether, haven’t been properly considered by ALDOT.
“Based on our investigations and engineering studies it has been determined that the dig would not work,” Leonard said. “It would not [be] feasible to make that happen. The relocation, even if it were possible, you’re talking about 15, 20, maybe 30 years because of the environmental issues that would have to be address as well as establishing an alignment and purchasing the right-of-way that’s needed.”
A Birmingham nonprofit, Move I-20/59, was created last year to oppose ALDOT’s plan. The group is led by Darrell O’Quinn, Ph.D., a civic activist and associate researcher at UAB.
“The highway functions fine for moving cars. And with ALDOT’s plan it will function even better for moving vehicles,” O’Quinn said. “But it does not really serve the area that it passes through. And it’s actually been a hindrance to development whenever you look towards properties north of that line.”
The Birmingham City Council has been divided on the issue. In 2014, before an organized opposition movement to ALDOT’s I-20/59 plan arose, the council passed a resolution in support of the plan. Now Jonathan Austin, the president of the city council is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against ALDOT attempting to halt the project.
The lawsuit alleges that ALDOT and the Federal Highway Administration have failed to offer substantial analysis on what it describes as “significant negative socioeconomic impacts,” as required by law. Other plaintiffs in the suit include O’Quinn and Birmingham Board of Education president Randall Woodfin.
“The cost of planning and building the thing is only one factor to consider,” O’Quinn said. “You have to look at the bigger picture and look at all of the other associated costs. So what we’re saying is that if we can do something and potentially reap a bunch of greater benefits, can we afford not to do it?”
One institution that literally feels the effects of I-20/59 is the Birmingham Museum of Art. Located a short distance from the interstate, the museum’s proximity to the highway has caused many complications to the art exhibits over the years.
“A number of objects on the north side of the building, our Wedgwood collection, other ceramics collections and everything that is especially lightweight has to be waxed down because they walk, they just move across the shelves and fall and break,” said Gail Andrews, R. Hugh Daniel director of the museum.
The constant vibrations from the highway have also caused the 2,000-pound statue in the front of the museum to move two inches in the past decade, according to Andrews.
“Our Renaissance painting collection is also on this side and the floor below, and we don’t know the impact on a 16th century panel painting having that constant vibration, but I don’t think it’s a good one,” Andrews said.
Since efforts to halt the expansion have failed thus far, the museum has been in contact with a specialist who has dealt with similar issues with vibrations in other cities across the country in order to determine what would be needed to protect the art collection. Andrews said that they have not been able to get a timetable from ALDOT on when the construction will reach the museum.
A 2009 feasibility study on lowering the interstate was done by Parsons Brinckerhoff, a multinational-engineering firm that has managed similar highway-lowering projects in other cities. The study found that a project to depress I-20/59 in downtown Birmingham was “technically feasible from an engineering and design perspective.” It also found that there were no “insurmountable challenges” to the construction of such a project. The study specifically addressed several of the reasons ALDOT has cited for why such a project wouldn’t be feasible, such as the need for additional right-of-way and problems associated with underground water drainage. The study found that such problems were manageable with standard practices.
However, ALDOT contends that there are issues with construction that the study did not adequately address.
“It was a very high level study, it didn’t get a lot into the details so we evaluated what we could with the information that was provided,” said Lance Taylor, a region assistant preconstruction engineer with ALDOT.
Lance said that the study made assumptions about the grade of the incline required to connect the depressed interstate with the Red Mountain exchange and the I-65 interchange that were not feasible with region standards.
Another argument put forth by opponents to the plan is that the ALDOT hasn’t adequately addressed the economic impact of keeping the interstate where it is.
“If you look at it from an economic perspective, can we afford not to lower the highway?” O’Quinn said. “Because if you’re making a more accessible pedestrian friendly downtown, reconnecting the BJCC to the business district, making more property available for development, bringing in thousands of new jobs into the city center. What is the economic impact of that, versus what ALDOT intends to do?”
On Sept. 19, the Birmingham City Council approved a resolution that enters the city into a preliminary agreement with ALDOT that would go toward a corridor study to relocate I-20/59. Under the agreement, ALDOT will contribute a maximum of $2 million for the study.
ALDOT released a statement that the study would not halt or otherwise impact the current project already underway, which it said was “of immediate need to ensure the safety of the traveling public,” and that the feasibility study concerned relocating the interstate “20 or 30 years into the future.”
