Huntsville

[Real Life Guitar Hero]

Well Alabama related, North though, I read that there might be an extension of I565 in Huntsville, anyone else know anything along these lines?

[Bryant5493]

^^ Here's some information that I found, that may be helpful to you.

http://www.interstate-guide.com/i-565_al.html


Be well,

Bryant

[Alex]

Only thing I've heard about any new limited access highway in Huntsville is the possibility that the southern toll bypass of Huntsville may come to fruition: http://www.tollroadsnews.com/node/3116

[John]

LOL Bryant, AAroads runs Interstate-Guide. But hey, being helpful is always good.

[Bryant5493]

^^ I know. It was only info I could find. 

Be well,

Bryant

[codyg1985]

Only thing I've heard about any new limited access highway in Huntsville is the possibility that the southern toll bypass of Huntsville may come to fruition: http://www.tollroadsnews.com/node/3116

Update on the Huntsville Southern Bypass: The US Army has had the project blocked due to security concerns. So its back to square one for ALDOT.

[agentsteel53]

from the article:

blah blah blah blah blah blah terrorist attack blah blah blah blah blah blah

news flash: Bush is out of office.  We can think like rational beings now.

[austrini]

I'm sure they could find another route for it. I-10 would run along the coast of Florida if it were not for the military, who wanted it moved inland so it couldnt be bombarded by submarines and the like!

[codyg1985]

I'm sure they could find another route for it. I-10 would run along the coast of Florida if it were not for the military, who wanted it moved inland so it couldnt be bombarded by submarines and the like!

It would be very difficult to do so. Redstone Arsenal basically forms an area bordered by I-565 to the north and the Tennessee River to the south, Zierdt Rd (between Madison and Huntsville) to the west and Jordan Lane to the east.  One option would be to route the bypass to the east of Redstone Arsenal, but it would be very expensive and it would cut off neighborhoods from the rest of the city. Routing the bypass farther out so it doesn't go next to some larger offices within the arsenal is another option, but I don't see the Army allowing that to happen, either.

[froggie]

I-10 would run along the coast of Florida if it were not for the military, who wanted it moved inland so it couldnt be bombarded by submarines and the like!

Must be a Florida thing.  In Mississippi, I-10 runs inland so it would have less chance of being flooded.  For example:  notice how soon I-10 was reopened after Katrina as compared to US 90.

It would be very difficult to do so. Redstone Arsenal basically forms an area bordered by I-565 to the north and the Tennessee River to the south, Zierdt Rd (between Madison and Huntsville) to the west and Jordan Lane to the east.  One option would be to route the bypass to the east of Redstone Arsenal, but it would be very expensive and it would cut off neighborhoods from the rest of the city.

They could go west of HST and south of Redstone, though that would require two additional crossings of the Tennessee River.

[codyg1985]

They could go west of HST and south of Redstone, though that would require two additional crossings of the Tennessee River.

They could do one crossing of the Tennessee River southwest of Redstone Arsenal (RSA), which is needed anyway IMO, and then parallel AL 36 to Lacey Springs at US 231. The US 231 Tennessee River bridges are going to eventually be three lanes each direction once the southbound bridge is replaced. That could be utilized as a river crossing for the bypass (and later the Memphis-Huntsville-Atlanta freeway, if ever built) if both approaches are retooled to be limited-access.

[codyg1985]

The Huntsville MPO and ALDOT have developed a new routing for the Huntsville Southern Bypass, otherwise known as Patriot Pkwy. Instead of going through Redstone Arsenal close to office buildings, the route will instead follow the eastern boundary of the arsenal. The route will start at the I-565/Jordan Ln interchange and proceed due south, overlaying Jordan Ln and Patton Road to just north of Gate 10 of the arsenal, From there it will take a southeasterly jog, hugging the boundary of the arsenal and will rejoin the original route at Martin Road.

Huntsville Times: New route for Patriot Parkway in 2035 plan

Draft Huntsville HMO 2035 long-range transportation plan (PDF

Personally, I don't think this will be built without toll funding. With this new routing, the ROW will be more expensive to acquire, and more roads will probably need to be relocated.

[Alex]

When I attended an ALDOT STIP meeting in 2003, the engineers there stated that the Huntsville bypass would probably be the only thing built of all the pipe dream projects the state had envisioned at the time. They included the Florence to Mobile freeway and the US 72 corridor freeway among others...

[Alex]

I noted no county route signage in Madison County yesterday or the day before. Looking at the DOT map, there are none posted there. So was there ever a county road system in place, or are the numbers only used internally? I traveled south along Winchester Road from Tennessee on Sunday and found it difficult to know how far I was from U.S. 231/431. Even the junction with Memorial was not signed with any shielding, and the first U.S. 231/431 assembly I found on southbound was not until junction U.S. 72. The freeway portion of U.S. 231 is not signed well with reassurance shields either...



Took Research Park Boulevard / Alabama 255 yesterday and saw a stub end at the north end. What were/are the plans for the route leading north?



Alabama 20 was scraped off guide signage for Interstate 565; U.S. 72 Alternate shields are consistently posted along side the stand alone shields. So if they removed Alabama 20, why didn't they add U.S. 72A shields?

[codyg1985]

I noted no county route signage in Madison County yesterday or the day before. Looking at the DOT map, there are none posted there. So was there ever a county road system in place, or are the numbers only used internally? I traveled south along Winchester Road from Tennessee on Sunday and found it difficult to know how far I was from U.S. 231/431. Even the junction with Memorial was not signed with any shielding, and the first U.S. 231/431 assembly I found on southbound was not until junction U.S. 72. The freeway portion of U.S. 231 is not signed well with reassurance shields either...

Madison County signage is poor at best. The street name signs are difficult to read at higher speeds, and in some cases if there are spaces in the name of the street, they are left out so that the name runs together so that the road name can fit on the sign. Another thing about Madison County roads is that a lot of them change names a zillion times. You will be driving down the road and all of a sudden you are on a different road only to find out that the road name you are meant to follow actually at the last turn-off.  Generally, at least, Madison County does a good job of putting up warning signs for upcoming intersections.

I believe that both Huntsville City, the local ALDOT district, and Madison County do a poor job at signs that better direct out of town travelers.  You have to know street names and route names to get around in Madison County as there is no indication of what city or part of the city the road leads to. It probably would have been faster for you to use Moores Mill Road from Winchester Road to get to Huntsville (right before the construction to widen Winchester Road to five lanes), but no signs help you out there. . US 231 is better signed along the areas of the parkway that have been upgraded to freeway/service road configuration, but I agree that more, and larger, reassurance shields should be posted. Intersecting streets get signed with the appropriate shields. I think upcoming streets should be signed with signs similar to those that you may have seen on US 231/431 saying "Mastin Lake Road, Next Street".  This is done really well with BGS versions of these signson University Drive (US 72) between Memorial Pkwy and Research Park Blvd (AL 255). I agree there should be mileage signs along major roads coming into and going out of Huntsville showing the mileage to the next city as there are none to be seen, even on state roads, except for I-565 west and AL 53 north.

Took Research Park Boulevard / Alabama 255 yesterday and saw a stub end at the north end. What were/are the plans for the route leading north?

Plans are to incorporate Research Park Blvd into a northern bypass of Huntsville. Did you take Research Park Blvd until it turned into a two-lane road? The freeway portion ends south of Dan Tibbs Road and AL 53, and the service roads extend north and then east to Pulaski Pike and a Toyota Motor Plant. In the next year or so the freeway portion will be extended to just north of AL 53. Sometime in the next five years the service roads will be extended to US 231/431, and from there the route will curve around to intersect Moores Mill Road, Winchester Road northeast of Bell Factory Road, and US 72 west of Gurley.

BTW, The road changes names five times. It is Rideout Road south of I-565 into Redstone Arsenal, Research Park Blvd from I-565 to AL 53, Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd from AL 53 to Pulaski Pike, and Bob Wade Ln from Pulaski Pike to Us 231/431, and Countess Rod from US 231/431 to Moores Mill Road. The portion of the road that was Research Park Blvd used to be Rideout Road until it was extended from US 72 to AL 53.

Alabama 20 was scraped off guide signage for Interstate 565; U.S. 72 Alternate shields are consistently posted along side the stand alone shields. So if they removed Alabama 20, why didn't they add U.S. 72A shields?

I believe that AL 20 is hidden along I-565/US 72 Alt. It no longer follows Madison Blvd as it used to, and I think that the cities of Huntsville and Madison maintain that road now. Another interesting note is that Alt US 72 is also signed along AL 53/Jordan Ln southbound from US 72 south to I-565.

[jdb1234]

I believe that AL 20 is hidden along I-565/US 72 Alt. It no longer follows Madison Blvd as it used to, and I think that the cities of Huntsville and Madison maintain that road now.

According to ALDOT, AL 20 ends at I-565.  I remember that until recently, Alt US 72 was barely signed along I-565.

Another interesting note is that Alt US 72 is also signed along AL 53/Jordan Ln southbound from US 72 south to I-565.

I wondered if those shield were still there along Jordan Ln.

[jdb1234]

Alabama 20 was scraped off guide signage for Interstate 565; U.S. 72 Alternate shields are consistently posted along side the stand alone shields. So if they removed Alabama 20, why didn't they add U.S. 72A shields?

Just arrived in Huntsville this afternoon.  I only noticed a scraped off guide sign for AL 20 at the I-65/565 split.

[codyg1985]

Alabama 20 was scraped off guide signage for Interstate 565; U.S. 72 Alternate shields are consistently posted along side the stand alone shields. So if they removed Alabama 20, why didn't they add U.S. 72A shields?

Just arrived in Huntsville this afternoon.  I only noticed a scraped off guide sign for AL 20 at the I-65/565 split.

If you look carefully at the exit 17B sign (AL 53 south, Governors Drive), you can see where at one time it had two shields; one for AL 53 South and one for AL 20 East. The exit sign for Madison Blvd/County Line Road used to only say Madison and indicate AL 20 East. There is one old sign on eastbound Old Madison Pike just east of AL 255 that says To East AL 20.

[jdb1234]

Alabama 20 was scraped off guide signage for Interstate 565; U.S. 72 Alternate shields are consistently posted along side the stand alone shields. So if they removed Alabama 20, why didn't they add U.S. 72A shields?

Just arrived in Huntsville this afternoon.  I only noticed a scraped off guide sign for AL 20 at the I-65/565 split.

If you look carefully at the exit 17B sign (AL 53 south, Governors Drive), you can see where at one time it had two shields; one for AL 53 South and one for AL 20 East. The exit sign for Madison Blvd/County Line Road used to only say Madison and indicate AL 20 East. There is [url=http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=huntsville,+al&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=31.784549,86.572266&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Huntsville,+Limestone,+Alabama&ll=34.713237,-86.667988&spn=0.004057,0.010568&t=h&z=17&layer=c&cbll=34.713235,-86.668106&panoid=QnO81n3IXc99bUbZmFhOUg&cbp=12,122.38,,0,-2.49]one old sign on eastbound Old Madison Pike just east of AL 255 that says To East AL 20.

That right, I forgot about the one there.  Noticed two clearview signs on University Dr near UAH.

[jdb1234]

Found a few bubble I-565 shields around town (I see Hoover is not the only place in the state with bubble shields).  Also found a sign showing a multiplex between US 231 N/ AL 53 N/ US 431 S/ US 72 E.  I am pretty sure those routes in those directions do not multiplex along Memorial Pkwy at Drake Ave.

[codyg1985]

Found a few bubble I-565 shields around town (I see Hoover is not the only place in the state with bubble shields).  Also found a sign showing a multiplex between US 231 N/ AL 53 N/ US 431 S/ US 72 E.  I am pretty sure those routes in those directions do not multiplex along Memorial Pkwy at Drake Ave.

Yeah, those shields are wrong. I think ALDOT was intending to direct motorists to US 72 and US 431, but they did a bad job of it there. US 431 joins US 231 at Governors Drive, and US 72 joins US 231/431 at University Drive.

I can't remember where all of the bubble I-565 shields are. I know one of them is off of AL 53 north at AL 255/Research Park Blvd.

[bugo]

I didn't realize Huntsville was in Madison County.  Huntsville, AR is also in Madison County.

[jdb1234]

Found a few bubble I-565 shields around town (I see Hoover is not the only place in the state with bubble shields).  Also found a sign showing a multiplex between US 231 N/ AL 53 N/ US 431 S/ US 72 E.  I am pretty sure those routes in those directions do not multiplex along Memorial Pkwy at Drake Ave.

Yeah, those shields are wrong. I think ALDOT was intending to direct motorists to US 72 and US 431, but they did a bad job of it there. US 431 joins US 231 at Governors Drive, and US 72 joins US 231/431 at University Drive.

I can't remember where all of the bubble I-565 shields are. I know one of them is off of AL 53 north at AL 255/Research Park Blvd.

From my experience, I have found that the signage on Memorial Parkway can get very messy in certain spots.

The bubble shields I saw were on Memorial Pkwy Southbound at the ramp to I-565 West (It was on the gore point sign) and the other was on the first guide sign for I-565 on AL 255 Southbound.

[codyg1985]

I didn't realize Huntsville was in Madison County.  Huntsville, AR is also in Madison County.

Yeah, I realized that a quite back. I wonder which Huntsville was founded first? Now if only Huntsville, AR gets involved with aerospace somehow.

Found a few bubble I-565 shields around town (I see Hoover is not the only place in the state with bubble shields).  Also found a sign showing a multiplex between US 231 N/ AL 53 N/ US 431 S/ US 72 E.  I am pretty sure those routes in those directions do not multiplex along Memorial Pkwy at Drake Ave.

Yeah, those shields are wrong. I think ALDOT was intending to direct motorists to US 72 and US 431, but they did a bad job of it there. US 431 joins US 231 at Governors Drive, and US 72 joins US 231/431 at University Drive.

I can't remember where all of the bubble I-565 shields are. I know one of them is off of AL 53 north at AL 255/Research Park Blvd.

From my experience, I have found that the signage on Memorial Parkway can get very messy in certain spots.

The bubble shields I saw were on Memorial Pkwy Southbound at the ramp to I-565 West (It was on the gore point sign) and the other was on the first guide sign for I-565 on AL 255 Southbound.

The signage on Memorial Pkwy is pretty crappy. There is little to no advance signage for upcoming exits. For example, if you are trying to follow US 431 south past I-565, there is only one sign saying that US 431 exits off, and that sign is currently being replaced (AGAIN) because it fell off the gantry. A few years ago the original sign gantry was found to be of the same design as one at the I-65/565 interchange that fell onto the roadway, so it was taken down, and it took a couple of YEARS before it was replaced. I'm afraid that US 72 will be treated the same way along it's triplex with US 231/431 when the Max Luther/Sparkman overpasses are completed. What's just as bad, there are no control cities to speak of in either direction, which irks me. I think that ALDOT doesn't really see Memorial Pkwy as a freeway so much as they see it as a super-arterial, meaning that it doesn't need any of the advance signage and control cities that freeways and interstates have.

[berberry]

The signage on Memorial Pkwy is pretty crappy. There is little to no advance signage for upcoming exits. For example, if you are trying to follow US 431 south past I-565, there is only one sign saying that US 431 exits off, and that sign is currently being replaced (AGAIN) because it fell off the gantry. A few years ago the original sign gantry was found to be of the same design as one at the I-65/565 interchange that fell onto the roadway, so it was taken down, and it took a couple of YEARS before it was replaced. I'm afraid that US 72 will be treated the same way along it's triplex with US 231/431 when the Max Luther/Sparkman overpasses are completed. What's just as bad, there are no control cities to speak of in either direction, which irks me. I think that ALDOT doesn't really see Memorial Pkwy as a freeway so much as they see it as a super-arterial, meaning that it doesn't need any of the advance signage and control cities that freeways and interstates have.

The road itself is crappy.  I've been to Huntsville a few times, but I remember being there at rush hour only once, 'bout five years ago I think.  So I don't know what conditions are usually like, but on that day traffic on the Pkwy was a nightmare.  I remember thinking that it was one of the worst-designed city freeways I'd ever driven.  There's less weaving going on at a Hanes t-shirt plant! 

And you're right about the signs, although I've only had a problem finding the one I need when moving at more than, say, 35mph.