6-Laning I-20? From Birmingham to Atlanta?

[Tomahawkin]

Does anyone know if this Idea has had the Go ahead? I know they are doing it in Phases near Talladega for the Increased Race Traffic, but 6 laning I-20 should've been done 20 years ago...The traffic from Birmingham to Atlanta can be a #### for it to be just 4 lanes

[Grzrd]

ALDOT's Progress 20 page provides updates on three current I-20 projects.

[Henry]

Does anyone know if this Idea has had the Go ahead? I know they are doing it in Phases near Talladega for the Increased Race Traffic, but 6 laning I-20 should've been done 20 years ago...The traffic from Birmingham to Atlanta can be a #### for it to be just 4 lanes

And even then, traffic can become such a nightmare, given Atlanta's history of being the Los Angeles of the South when it comes to traffic congestion.

[jwolfer]

Does anyone know if this Idea has had the Go ahead? I know they are doing it in Phases near Talladega for the Increased Race Traffic, but 6 laning I-20 should've been done 20 years ago...The traffic from Birmingham to Atlanta can be a #### for it to be just 4 lanes

I am not familiar with I-20 west of ATL but I would imagine that GA has plans for 6 laning... Most if not all of I-75 and I-95 are six lanes or more in GA

[BamaZeus]

I just travelled the road on Sunday from Tuscaloosa into Georgia and back.  The St. Clair section looks like it's almost ready to go coming down the sharp hill near MM 153.  The widening part is pretty much done, as is the rock removal.  All they need to do is stripe it and change the barrier configuration, etc. 

The west Anniston section is nearly ready other than the bridges over SR 21 (Quintard Ave).  Eastbound there is a forced split of lanes where the two lanes go over two separate bridge structures and are separated by a Jersey barrier.  East of Quintard, though, they have barely begun.  They have created 2-lane shifts across the wide median past MM 188, but they're closed to traffic at the moment.  They kinda look like roads to nowhere right now, but they'll be used in the near future.

I am glad they're widening toward the GA border, though.  At the very least, that has been some rough pavement for 20+ years now.  Right now, the right lane is the shoulder in both directions, so every 100 feet you drive over the rumble strips, making it even worse.

Hopefully when this project is all done, they can raise the speed limit back to 70.  After that incident with the pavement cracking and hitting that car, they dropped it to 55, because it was "too dangerous" to go any faster.  It made it look like the drop was a solution to the problem instead of just fixing the road, but it appears they're actually fixing the road and widening it while they're at it, and that's a better solution.

Of course, the final total of this will be that I-20 will be 3 lanes wide from west of Tuscaloosa all the way to Atlanta and beyond.  It also would seem that Birmingham and Atlanta will be that much closer together as far as towns like Oxford/Anniston effectively becoming suburbs of one or both.

[SSF]

the problem I have with Alabama is that even when the road is substantially complete, they will leave the 55 mph limit for a good 3-4 months longer than it should be.  it is almost like ALDOT is colluding with the local and state police forces to make some more revenue.  I-65 just south of Birmingham is an example of this to me, the road has been ready for 70 mph for 3 months now, all that seems to be missing is some grassing and the pavement reflectors; it is hard to believe the contractor couldnt have scheduled Peek or whoever to do the reflectors by now and the grassing might take a day at most with a crew of 3.  still, driving through there last week, the speed limit was 55 on immaculate pavement, no workers in sight, and a couple of cars pulled over by some deputies.

i do look forward to I-20 being all three lane, but the Coosa river bridge will be a hinderance to that dream.  Plus I doubt GDOT has the money in the 6th district to widen that last 24 miles from Villa Rica to the line.

[BamaZeus]

When they first opened the widened 3-lane segment from Mercedes to 459, they left the 55mph limit up, along with the construction signs for well over a year.  The road was definitely finished, perfectly paved and striped, and so on.

Of course, with the speed trap at the eastern edge of Mercedes, the 55mph limit made it far easier for the bevy of state troopers to pull people over.  I was working in Birmingham at the time, and got pulled over one morning by a trooper, who claimed I wasn't wearing my seatbelt, when in fact I was, like I always do.  I wasn't speeding, I wasn't driving aggressively, just rolling along, yet the trooper felt like he had to pull me over for something.  Don't mind the people doing 85 in the right lane, cutting off 18-wheelers...Despite my hands being on the wheel the entire time, he says he saw me putting my seatbelt on.  I don't know how I got out of it with just a warning, considering he seemed bound and determined to write me up for anything. 

It's just another fine example of the collusion between the AL DOT people and other state agencies to try to fund all the construction that's 10 years behind getting done in the first place. 

[agentsteel53]

I believe in this case you were not subjected to a revenue stop.  as you said, there were other vehicles who were far more likely targets for that sort of thing.

your car probably matched the description of someone suspicious.  he needed to stall long enough to look around for anything within plain view, and after he determined that he did not have probable cause for a further search, he let you go with a warning for ... something.

[codyg1985]

i do look forward to I-20 being all three lane, but the Coosa river bridge will be a hinderance to that dream.  Plus I doubt GDOT has the money in the 6th district to widen that last 24 miles from Villa Rica to the line.

I have been wondering what is going to happen with the Coosa River bridge to widen it to six lanes. Presentations that I have seen from the Alabama Transportation Conference in Auburn (having to do with the geotechnical nature of the project) seem to indicate that an entirely new bridge will be built. I wasn't able to tell if it will be built in a new location or if it will be built in the same location.

Maybe an email to ALDOT is in order.

[golden eagle]

Of course, the final total of this will be that I-20 will be 3 lanes wide from west of Tuscaloosa all the way to Atlanta and beyond.  It also would seem that Birmingham and Atlanta will be that much closer together as far as towns like Oxford/Anniston effectively becoming suburbs of one or both.

If I could stray away from the subject just a bit, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution published a story just over a decade ago on a super-megalopolis called Charlantingham, in which Charlotte, Atlanta and Birmingham will meet and form said megalopolis. Can you imagine that?

[NYYPhil777]

Of course, the final total of this will be that I-20 will be 3 lanes wide from west of Tuscaloosa all the way to Atlanta and beyond.  It also would seem that Birmingham and Atlanta will be that much closer together as far as towns like Oxford/Anniston effectively becoming suburbs of one or both.

If I could stray away from the subject just a bit, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution published a story just over a decade ago on a super-megalopolis called Charlantingham, in which Charlotte, Atlanta and Birmingham will meet and form said megalopolis. Can you imagine that?

Charlantingham- I like that name. Within a metro area radius that includes those three cities, I'd also suggest a name to accomodate Macon and Athens (for Georgia) and Chattanooga in addition.

[Takumi]

You could also extend that megalopolis northeast to inlude the Piedmont Triad and maybe even Raleigh/Durham.

[golden eagle]

Maybe the Piedmont and RDU would be "suburbs" of Charlotte.

I'm going to make a separate thread in the off-topic forum so that I won't hijack this thread and steer it from its intended purposed.

[codyg1985]

Of course, the final total of this will be that I-20 will be 3 lanes wide from west of Tuscaloosa all the way to Atlanta and beyond.  It also would seem that Birmingham and Atlanta will be that much closer together as far as towns like Oxford/Anniston effectively becoming suburbs of one or both.

If I could stray away from the subject just a bit, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution published a story just over a decade ago on a super-megalopolis called Charlantingham, in which Charlotte, Atlanta and Birmingham will meet and form said megalopolis. Can you imagine that?

I can imagine something between Chattanooga and Atlanta, but I have a harder time imagining something between Birmingham and Atlanta or between Charlotte and Atlanta. There is still A LOT of development that would need to take place in order for it to even be considered one megalopolis.

[mcdonaat]

I wish I-20 would get six-laned between Monroe and Shreveport. Traffic is extremely heavy on this stretch, in part because it's the only highway to take (US 80 is a rural two-lane road except for some stretches). I would also say that Longview-Dallas needs it as well.

[Alex]

Still under construction between Exits 147 and 156. The progress20 site lists a Summer 2013 completion. Trucks are mandated to the left-hand lane through the eight mile stretch.



Photo from yesterday (10-08-12).

[codyg1985]

^ Part of me is surprised they are still working on that stretch,  but with the amount of blasting and earth moving required I can also understand why.

Did you manage to avoid the Talladega traffic?

[Alex]

^ Part of me is surprised they are still working on that stretch,  but with the amount of blasting and earth moving required I can also understand why.

Did you manage to avoid the Talladega traffic?

Was heading to Talladega Superspeedway actually. Traffic was not an issue at all inbound for us and we arrived at 11 am or so.

The setup where CR-399/Speedway Boulevard is converted to one-way inbound before the race and one-way outbound after the race worked very well. We opted for AL-77 south from the track, whereas it seemed 80% of the traffic was headed for I-20. Was a breeze going that way as they blocked AL-77 northbound at a couple of key points to provide continuous southbound flow and even had local police waving traffic through downtown Sylacauga intersections on AL-21 southbound. FYI, the bypass of Talladega has fresh black-top in place, but is still not open.

Back to I-20, was also surprised that so much work was still left. Drove through here in October 2010 and blasting was well underway then. Got updated eastbound photos from I-459 to AL-77 at least.

[codyg1985]

I really need to check out I-20 east from Moody to the GA State Line. There are various widening projects around Anniston and Heflin, but I think on some of them they are performing the widening but leaving it striped as two lanes each way until more of the interstate can be widened.

[BamaZeus]

It's all still 2 lanes from Anniston eastward to the state line.  There are some places in Heflin where you're riding on the shoulder over bridges, so it's not a pleasant ride.  Or, even less pleasant than that stretch of road has been for 20 years+.

[Alex]

I updated all the I-20 eastbound photos on AARoads from the split with I-59 to I-459 with content from June 25, 2012 and everything east from I-459 to AL-77 from this past Sunday's trip to Talladega (10-7).

https://www.aaroads.com/guide.php?page=i0020eaal
https://www.aaroads.com/guide.php?page=i0020ebal