What I am going to be sharing with you

I figure my first post should be an introductory posts of sorts. I believe that my background and educational experience can help to shed light on some of the transportation issues facing the Tennessee Valley.

My name is Cody Goodman, and I have always had a passion for transportation of all sorts. I loved seeing trains as a kid, and roads just sparked some sort of interest in me from an early age. I wrote for the school newspaper in high school, and many of my articles pertained to roads in Walker County, Alabama. At the time, Appalachian Corridor X, a limited-access highway between Birmingham, AL, and Memphis, TN, was under construction through Walker County. This road is now US 78 and will be designated Interstate 22 once the interchange with I-65 is completed in 2014. I often wrote about the status of the road and what it would take in order to bring it to "interstate standards" in Mississippi (since that is one of the things that has to happen before you see those red, white, and blue signs appear along the highway). Mississippi built their portion of Corridor X earlier than Alabama did, not anticipating that it would be designated an interstate later.

I attended college at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and I graduated from there with a degree in Civil Engineering with a concentration in transportation. As a result, a lot of my coursework involved the planning and design of highways. There wasn't much discussion of transit in these classes, which I think is a shame, but in this region highways are, like it or not, the king of the roost. I also had other general civil engineering courses such as Soil Mechanics, Foundations, Reinforced Concrete Design, and computer-aided design (CAD).

Today I work for Marshall Space Flight Center Facilities Engineering Office in Huntsville, AL. My work there involves managing the construction and renovation of facilities at the center. A lot of my technical focus at this job has more to do with structural and geotechnical disciplines than transportation, but this knowledge can help shed some light into constructability of improvements and upgrades of infrastructure in the Tennessee Valley

As I drive around Huntsville, I notice some areas where the roads could be redesigned and improvements can be made. I know that there plans, both big and small, to address some of these issues. Regardless, I am going to be sharing with you some of my ideas on how to improve transportation on all scales across Huntsville and Northern Alabama. A lot of my ideas have to do with roads; however, I am of the opinion that transit needs to also be considered for Huntsville and the surrounding area. I also have several transit ideas to share with you.

I encourage everyone to share with me ideas that you may have on how to improve transportation in Huntsville. I intend for this blog to start a dialog as to what transportation issues need addressing, how they can be fixed, and how they can be funded. Transportation is vital to all of us, no matter what walk of life you come from. Whether you drive, ride a bike, ride a bus, or take a train, we all need to get from point A to point B.  The infrastructure in place is the fabric that connects all of us, and I hope to have a small part in improving that fabric.

Firstly, when I say Tennessee Valley, I am referring to Northern Alabama and Southern Middle Tennessee.