Huntsville/Madison Development News (Mobile, Foley: property tax rates, coastal, small towns)

[AU HSV]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

The outside looks OK to me, but the staircase isn't what I visualize as "grand".

Hope the elevators never are out of order. Hey architect add escalators, guess it meets ADA code

[AU HSV]

Originally Posted by AU HSV

I-565 / Memorial Parkway interchange. A long and expensive project but will be done, the question is when.
Mayor Battles recent trip to Washington. Cost to rebuild it between 200-300 million.

https://www.al.com/news/2021/07/hunt...0-million.html

Because aldot won’t Huntsville has to. We are own our own if we want any highway improvements.

Huntsville is in the process of doing a corridor study on the current interchange.

“We’re willing to pay for that and provide that to Alabama Department of Transportation and our partners at Federal Highway that are great partners. That’s the first step to say ‘hey, we know down the road something will have to be done what is that, what does that look like, what is the most economical long term beneficial plan?'” Shane Davis told News 19.
In a recent trip to Washington D.C., Mayor Battle lobbied for funding from the government saying it’s a needed project for Huntsville to sustain continued growth.

“We talked with all of our representatives and our senator, we talked about how we could continue to keep growing, growing our infrastructure,” Mayor Battle said.

My question is will aldot except the corridor study, or say since they didn’t do it it’s not credible.
Aldots motto : whatever can be done today, wait and do it tomorrow.

https://whnt.com/news/as-population-...ture-priority/

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by AU HSV

Because aldot won’t Huntsville has to. We are own our own if we want any highway improvements.

Huntsville is in the process of doing a corridor study on the current interchange.

“We’re willing to pay for that and provide that to Alabama Department of Transportation and our partners at Federal Highway that are great partners. That’s the first step to say ‘hey, we know down the road something will have to be done what is that, what does that look like, what is the most economical long term beneficial plan?'” Shane Davis told News 19.
In a recent trip to Washington D.C., Mayor Battle lobbied for funding from the government saying it’s a needed project for Huntsville to sustain continued growth.

“We talked with all of our representatives and our senator, we talked about how we could continue to keep growing, growing our infrastructure,” Mayor Battle said.

My question is will aldot except the corridor study, or say since they didn’t do it it’s not credible.
Aldots motto : whatever can be done today, wait and do it tomorrow.

https://whnt.com/news/as-population-...ture-priority/

Don't know if it's true or not, but some posters, I think on the Birmingham Forum, said that ALDOT paid for the CityWalk project - something like $34M, which I assume included all those colored LEDs that are under the near $1B freeway rework that ALDOT did a year or two ago (with federal, ALDOT, and perhaps a small amount of city funds). If Battle is successful, don't federal funds have to come through ALDOT? They might divert the money to be used elsewhere.

[Surge0001]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

Don't know if it's true or not, but some posters, I think on the Birmingham Forum, said that ALDOT paid for the CityWalk project - something like $34M, which I assume included all those colored LEDs that are under the near $1B freeway rework that ALDOT did a year or two ago (with federal, ALDOT, and perhaps a small amount of city funds). If Battle is successful, don't federal funds have to come through ALDOT? They might divert the money to be used elsewhere.

Doesn’t/wouldn’t surprise me, ALDOT is useless anywhere outside of Birmingham and 20/59. ALDOT might address the capacity issues of Huntsville after a generation or so like they are for Mobile

[AU HSV]

Originally Posted by Surge0001

Doesn’t surprise me, ALDOT is useless anywhere outside of Birmingham and 20/59

I have no problem with whatever projects they do in Birmingham as it is a positive for the state, but don’t use stall tactics and excuses for other areas of the state. There is no reason for a city to have to pay for corridor studies, that’s aldots job. Interesting that supposedly was done a few years ago, maybe it was not done or delayed.
https://www.al.com/news/huntsville/2...on_juncti.html

[Surge0001]

Originally Posted by AU HSV

I have no problem with whatever projects they do in Birmingham as it is a positive for the state, but don’t use stall tactics and excuses for other areas of the state. There is no reason for a city to have to pay for corridor studies, that’s aldots job. Interesting that supposedly was done a few years ago, maybe it was not done or delayed.
https://www.al.com/news/huntsville/2...on_juncti.html

100% agree

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by AU HSV

I have no problem with whatever projects they do in Birmingham as it is a positive for the state, but don’t use stall tactics and excuses for other areas of the state. There is no reason for a city to have to pay for corridor studies, that’s aldots job. Interesting that supposedly was done a few years ago, maybe it was not done or delayed.
https://www.al.com/news/huntsville/2...on_juncti.html

I'm sure most would agree with that, but they shouldn't spend virtually all the funds in one place.

Did we ever see what the results of that study were? It should have been completed two years ago. And now we're going to do another study?

Kathy Martin said it would be a "decade long" project. The 59/20 project was done in 14 months. Why would it take 10 years or more here? It would be a decidedly less complex project than 59/20.

[AU HSV]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

I'm sure most would agree with that, but they shouldn't spend virtually all the funds in one place.

Did we ever see what the results of that study were? It should have been completed two years ago. And now we're going to do another study?

Kathy Martin said it would be a "decade long" project. The 59/20 project was done in 14 months. Why would it take 10 years or more here? It would be a decidedly less complex project than 59/20.

Think she means from planning to completion but yeah that should be an unacceptable timeline. Actual construction would probably take 2-3 years.

[MisterEd51]

How much will this help traffic on Highway 53?
Wasn't the widening of Highway 53 a really high priority at one time?

City officials approve Highway 53 expansion to alleviate congestion, improve safety
https://whnt.com/news/highway-53-exp...mprove-safety/

Was this a good move 8 years ago considering Huntsville couldn't depend upon ALDOT?
Has it met people's expectations?

Huntsville's sales tax will jump to 9 percent on March 1 (2013); City Council rejects sunset clause
https://www.al.com/breaking/2013/12/..._will_jum.html

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by MisterEd51

How much will this help traffic on Highway 53?
Wasn't the widening of Highway 53 a really high priority at one time?

City officials approve Highway 53 expansion to alleviate congestion, improve safety
https://whnt.com/news/highway-53-exp...mprove-safety/

Was this a good move 8 years ago considering Huntsville couldn't depend upon ALDOT?
Has it met people's expectations?

Huntsville's sales tax will jump to 9 percent on March 1 (2013); City Council rejects sunset clause
https://www.al.com/breaking/2013/12/..._will_jum.html

David Pinkleton was right - paying 50% for roadwork seems to have let ALDOT off the hook. It's been 8 years since that article was written and none of those projects have even been started as far as I can tell (certainly not 72 west of Provicence), yet the increased tax has been collected all along.