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I-14 in Alabama

Started by Grzrd, August 09, 2018, 03:12:47 PM

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Grzrd

In this article, ALDOT pours cold water on the idea of I-14, and puts it in the same category as the I-10 connector and the Huntsville-Memphis interstate, i.e. currently a dream:

Quote
A proposal to build a new interstate highway through Alabama ultimately faces long odds of being successful, according to the Alabama Department of Transportation.
Tony Harris, government relations manager for ALDOT, said the department has no plans at present to move forward on the idea, has not had discussions with any of the groups in favor of the idea and doesn't have available funding to do the evaluations to begin planning a project like Interstate 14 through Alabama.
"There has been no discussion about a proposed Interstate 14 involving state transportation officials in Alabama and the advocates for this idea," Harris said. "In today's funding climate, this proposal isn't likely to get serious consideration."

A group of college students from Georgia and Alabama called the Youth Infrastructure Coalition recently launched a web site and YouTube video to promote the idea of building a new interstate highway from west Texas to Augusta, Ga., passing through Alabama's Black Belt, from Selma to Montgomery, then on to Phenix City, Columbus, Ga., Macon and Augusta.
While the Federal Highway Administration did conduct a study to explore the feasibility of the Interstate 14 project from Texas to the Atlantic coast, Harris said in Alabama that study was only the first step in what would be a very long and expensive process, if it ever happens.
"You need funding to do the federal studies that are necessary to identify a route, to clear all the environmental hurdles that are there and to do the preliminary engineering," Harris said. "That process would take a decade or more and would be quite expensive."
Harris said the FHA study lays out suggested routes, but there would be issues and complications that are not addressed in that report. For example, he said, one of the proposed routes cuts through the Tuskegee National Forest. Harris said it would be unlikely that federal officials would allow a new interstate to be built through a protected National Forest area.
"It's one thing to know that there's a federal study out there that's been conducted and to put up a website and say, 'hey, this is a great idea,'" Harris said. "It's another thing to confront the realities that we live in, in the transportation world that hasn't seen a meaningful increase in transportation funding in three decades."
Harris also said that many local areas in Alabama have ideas for new interstate projects. Dothan leaders are interested in an interstate connection with I-10 in Florida. Huntsville officials would love an interstate across north Alabama.

"There are more ideas floating around out there, more wants floating around around out there, than we can fund," Harris said. "And frankly, it puts us in a situation where we have to choose what to do with the funding we have and seek the maximum benefit that we can get from those funds."


Grzrd

Quote from: Grzrd on August 09, 2018, 03:12:47 PM
In this article, ALDOT pours cold water on the idea of I-14, and puts it in the same category as the I-10 connector and the Huntsville-Memphis interstate, i.e. currently a dream

Even if the I-14 supporters get past ALDOT's hurdles, this TV video from Dothan reports that Dothan thinks the I-10 Connector should be first in priority:

Quote
A new interstate proposal would run through Alabama but not the Wiregrass area and not everyone is happy with the idea.
There isn't a time table for when it would be finished or even when work would start.
But here's a map of what it would look like if it comes to be, connecting interstate 10 in west Texas with Interstate 16 in Augusta, Georgia.
It would run through 5 states, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia.
But the closest it would get to us would be Phenix City.
And mayor Mark Saliba isn't happy about the fact that the plans by pass the entire Wiregrass.
He says, "We feel like we have been cut out for many decades, it has hurt us, we have grown a great city but we need an interstate this way before those in the middle of the state do."
A study was started back in 2010 looking at the idea for this interstate.
Mayor Saliba says Dothan will make their voice known, that we need an interstate.

Although they apparently seem to think it is a proposal to extend I-16:


Tom958

They could call the (never to be built) I-85 extension I-14...  :clap:

sparker

Quote from: Tom958 on August 11, 2018, 09:18:21 AM
They could call the (never to be built) I-85 extension I-14...  :clap:

That is the very idea proposed by the Lumpkin/UGA group for I-14; it duplicates the old I-85 proposal from Montgomery west to I-20/59 then simply multiplexes with I-59 SW to Laurel, where it diverges west. 



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