"Mid-town" Madison Needs an East-West Corridor, But How to Do It?

Madison, AL is one of the fastest growing cities in the state of Alabama. Situated next to Huntsville, Cummings and Thornton Research Parks, and Redstone Arsenal, it is in a convenient location for growth. However, one big problem with Madison that I have is that there is no great way to get from east to west in the city. Sure, you have I-565 and Madison Blvd on the south side of the city, Old Madison Pike/Browns Ferry Rd a bit north of that, and US 72 on the north side of Madison.

Figure 1: There is a lot in the way of that yellow line.

As you can see in the figure above, in the middle, there are two obstacles that prevent a road from being built: houses and a mountain. Eastview Drive almost fills this void, but unfortunately, the road was designed to be a residential street instead of a main arterial though town. Plus, it doesn't connect with County Line Road, which is a minus. Gillespie Road extended due east to meet with Farrow Rd and the western entrance of Cummings Research Park would be a wonderful way to connect the entire city of Madison together while giving commuters another option of getting to work instead of US 72, Slaughter Rd, and Old Madison Pike. It builds redundancy in the system in case a road needs to be closed.

Am I advocating that we just go in and demolish everything so that a straight-as-an-arrow road can be built? Of course not. Although this would be the best thing from a road network standpoint to do, it would be a horrible thing to do in most other ways. If you are a property owner onthat yellow line, you aren’t going to want to have your house taken by eminent domain for such a road to be built. Even if that got done, it would be more expensive to build the road over the mountain that is in the middle. Those that live close to the yellow line aren’t going to want to deal with more traffic at higher speeds.

Another option is to rebuild Eastview Drive. Again, this road was built to be a residential street. Widening this road alone without correcting some of the site-distance problems along the road would affect the houses that front the road on both sides for most of its length. Re-grading Eastview Drive would take out houses, so this isn’t an attractive option, either. Plus, as mentioned earlier, Eastview Drive doesn’t go all the way west to County Line Road; it stops at Sullivan Street.

Of course you can widen the roads that go around this area: US 72, Old Madison Pike, Hughes Road, and Slaughter Road. Most of this is already planned. However, at some point without some big decision, whether it be mass transit, building a road through a subdivision, or rebuilding an existing road at a high cost, will have to be made in order to keep Madison from being choked by its own growth.

What do you all think would be a good solution to this problem?

Here's Your Sign, Huntsville Roadways Edition

Note: Thanks to my friend J N Winkler for the signage renderings!


One thing I notice more than others may notice are some of the slight mistakes that appear on signs in and around Huntsville. The people that live here don’t really notice them or they don’t really need the signs since they know how to get to their work, home, school, and so on, but for those that are out of town or visiting for the first time, these signage errors can cause a bit of frustration.

Here are some pictures of some signs around Huntsville that are either wrong, misleading, or both. After each sign and description of the problem I will propose a solution to the error so that the sign more accurate.

The first sign in the list greets motorists who are trying to access I-565 westbound from Glenn Hearn Blvd, the road that connects the airport to I-565. 

Figure 1: What’s up ahead? Who knows?

So, where do the roads go here? If you get on West something, you will go to Decatur. If you go straight, then who knows where you will end up. Timbuktu, perhaps? This is confusing, especially at an airport which is one of the gateways into the Huntsville/Madison area.

For those of you who live here, it is pretty easy to tell that the right fork of the sign leads to I-565 westbound (the interstate marker is missing), and if you go straight, you will end up at Madison Blvd. For those of you who have lived here longer, you can probably remember that on the left side of the sign there used to be an Alabama Highway 20 marker, and on the right an I-565 marker. Alabama Highway 20 is also known as Madison Blvd in Madison and Huntsville. Before I-565 was built, Alabama Highway 20 was the main route between Decatur and Huntsville. A decade or so ago, Alabama DOT turned over the road to the cities of Madison and Huntsville to maintain. Therefore, the road is no longer Alabama Highway 20, but just Madison Blvd. They couldn’t squeeze Madison Blvd onto this sign, so they just left it blank.

The fix here is simple: put up a sign similar to this, but label each fork appropriately.

The second sign comes along on I-565 eastbound approaching the Research Park Blvd interchange. Firstly, motorists are greeted with this mileage sign (which is the only mileage sign for streets in the city):

Figure 2: If only we could have more signs like this in Huntsville.

No biggie, it shows that Research Park Blvd is coming up soon. As soon as the ramp in the background of the picture merges with I-565 (hard to see the ramp in the picture, but it’s there), you have this sign:

Figure 3: All is okay with this sign, right?

Many may ask, well what’s wrong with this sign? This exit is for Research Park Blvd. And indeed it is. However, if you are coming from the airport and you are trying to find the entrance to Redstone Arsenal or to Marshall Space Flight Center, then you have no clue without having a GPS that this is the exit you should take. The sign in the background announces that you can reach Gate 9 and MSFC from this exit, but at that point you would have to swerve over to get to the exit. To make matters worse, after the ramp splits off there is an immediate split between the ramps to Research Park Blvd north and the Redstone Arsenal Gate 9 ramp. If you aren’t in the correct lane, then well I guess that’s too bad.

Coming westbound, there are two separate ramps for this interchange from I-565. Both are labeled correctly, and the one to Redstone Arsenal is labeled “Redstone Arsenal Gate 9.” Why couldn’t this have been done going eastbound.

The fix here: replace these signs so that the destination “Redstone Arsenal Gate 9” is added to the signs. Such a sign may look something like this:

Figure 4: Add “Restone Arsenal Gate 9” to the Exit 14 sign going eastbound

On a related note, if you are headed for Research Park Blvd north, you are greeted with this sign before you loop around:

Figure 5: Here is the exit for Research Park B. Where is Research Park A, then?

This sign, along with another one coming westbound on I-565, was damaged in a storm in this way. This is an easy fix that should have been done along time ago.

The next sign is a minor gripe, but it is still inaccurate:

Figure 6: Is this road named for Governor George Wallace?

What is Wallace Ave? No one has heard of it. That’s because this sign left off the word Bob at the beginning of Wallace Ave. It would have made the sign longer, but it would be accurate.

First, some history. Before I-565 wast built, Alabama Highway 20 known as Governors Drive here, ran very close to present-day I-565. Bob Wallace Ave intersected Governors Drive at an extreme angle. Going west on Bob Wallace Ave, you would have ended up on Old Madison Pike. That intersection was a ¼ of a mile west of this location. Sparkman Drive continued south from here before I-565 to terminate at Bob Wallace Ave east of where Bob Wallace intersected Governors Drive. Complicating thing was the Norfolk Southern railroad that paralleled Governors Drive immediately to the north. The interchange that was built here really eliminated a lot of the headaches that drivers used to face.

Now we go to the eastern end of I-565. Prior to around 2004, I-565 east just dumped into a connector road, Andrew Jackson Way, that had a traffic signal at US 72.  This signal was a cause of many backups along I-565 east. To make matters worse, especially for truckers, the signal was located on an uphill climb to Chapman Mountain. Officially, I-565 ended just prior to this intersection. There were signs coming eastbound about a mile from the “end” of I-565 announcing it’s terminus.  A new interchange was built here to speed up traffic and complete I-565 in Huntsville. With it, officially, I-565 was extended through the interchange to near the top of the Chapman Mountain pass. However, a lot of the signs were not changed. Coming eastbound on I-565, the signs that said that the interstate was about to end weren’t changed out, but the END text and ½ mile text were covered up so that all that was visible is the I-565 marker.

At Exit 20 for Oakwood Ave, if you are on Oakwood Ave, the signs directing you west do indeed show I-565 west. However, if you wish to go east on I-565, then you are greeted with this sign:

Figure 7: To US 72 is so 1990’s.

As in the previous case, the sign is correct. Taking this ramp will take you to US 72. It is what is omitted from the sign that is frustrating. I-565 continues east past this interchange for two more miles. I-565 east should also be on this sign. What would also be nice would be a city that you would reach if you went this way, such as Scottsboro. There isn’t a city going westbound here either, so I guess it wouldn’t be too bad to just leave the destination off the sign.


The next sign is in this general area, too. There are problems going both eastbound and westbound at this location. I will go with the eastbound sign first:

Figure 8: There was no mention of Maysville Rd before...why now?

Again, the sign is accurate: if you take this exit, you will reach Maysville Rd. However, there is absolutely no mention of Maysville Rd on the exit signs that come before this. The exit signs simply say US 72 West. Also, and this is even more of a problem, but there should be an “EXIT 21” sign with an arrow pointing up and to the right. This sign is located on interstates at the point where the ramp diverges off the main road, called the Exit Gore.

Going westbound, you also aren’t told anything about Maysville Rd coming up to the exit. The exit signs say US 72 West, Athens. When you get to the exit gore going westbound, you see this:

Figure 9: Nice scenic view of I-565 west coming down Chapman Mountain. But you may think this is Exit 22. Right? Wrong, it’s Exit 21.

This sign is misleading for one reason: it happens to be located at Mile Marker 22 of I-565. If you are looking at this sign, you would think that this is Exit 22. Right? Wrong. This should be Exit 21, and it should be labeled as such. The Mile Post 22 sign can stay, but it won’t be as big of a source of confusion if a larger, proper, Exit Gore sign is installed.

To address Maysville Rd being accessible from this interchange, that street name should be added to the exit signs coming from both directions, like this:

Figure 10: Add “Maysville Rd” to the Exit 21 signage on I-565

The next set of signs are along Memorial Pkwy near the I-565 interchange.  The next sign is along the southbound Memorial Pkwy service road before the ramp to westbound I-565. 

Figure 11: Oh my goodness! We have to go in two different directions at the same time to reach I-565 west.

I actually didn’t notice this signage error until several years after living here. The problem with this sign is that it indicates that the ramp for I-565 west diverges here, which is not correct. The Exit Only arrow is correct. The ramp diverges in the distance before the overpasses.  It is easy to fix this sign: remove the arrow that goes up and to the right from the sign. Or cover it up in green.

Not too far south from this location is another minor, yet confusing signage error. This is immediately before Governors Drive:

Figure 12: Do I exit or do I stay in the lane?

The overhead sign says Exit Only in yellow, which suggests that the lane that I am in exits at that location for Governors Drive. However, as you can clearly see in this picture, the lane continues along Memorial Pkwy southbound. It actually diverges off the parkway at the next exit for Bob Wallace Ave.

I would suggest not only removing the EXIT ONLY part of the sign, but I would also add another sign right beside of it to show the Bob Wallace Ave exit, along with an EXIT ONLY panel and an downward-facing arrow. It would look something like this:

Figure 13: Drop the Exit Only panel off the Governors Drive sign (since the lane doesn’t exit here) and put a sign for the next street, Bob Wallace Ave.

This sort of thing needs to be done along the entire length of the parkway. Upcoming exits aren’t announced until you have almost reached them, which doesn’t give you a lot of time to merge over if needed, especially in rush-hour traffic. Replace the cantilever overhead signs with overhead signs that span all of the lanes, and announce the upcoming exit.

Further south on the parkway, we have this set of signs along Drake Ave going eastbound:

Figure 14: So many highway numbers!

These signs suggest that if you turn left to go north on Memorial Pkwy you will also be on Eastbound US 72 and Southbound US 431. That isn’t exactly the case. You can reach those two routes if you go north here, but this suggests that you can’t reach northbound US 431 or westbound US 72 from here, which isn’t the case.

The solution here is simple. Relace the cardinal directions for US 72 and US 431 with a TO sign.

The next sign is along the Research Park Blvd service road going northbound:

Figure 15: These signs are common along the service roads of the limited access roads in Huntsville.

When these signs were installed, they were accurate. The left lane turned left or U-turned, the middle lane went straight, and the right lane either turns right or goes straight. A few years ago, the City of Huntsville installed a traffic signal at the upcoming intersection. This was done after the westward extension of Oakwood Rd was complete. The middle lane was changed to turn left and go straight when the signal was installed. This sign, however, was not updated to reflect that change. A simple fix would be to replace the middle sign with a sign saying that the middle lane can both turn left and go straight.

The final sign I have for now is along Jordan Lane (Highway 53) going southbound just south of University Drive:

Figure 16: What is the deal with Alternate US 72?

There are no signs anywhere else saying that this route becomes Alternate US 72. This route is signed along the entire length of I-565 to Exit 21. There are no signs that announce the end of it, either. Alternate US 72 and Alabama Highway 20 are sporadically signed all along I-565 at the interchanges, and it is confusing. The signs need to accurately depict what the roads are called. If necessary. truncate Alternate US 72 and Alabama Highway 20 at the I-65 interchange close to Decatur. This would eliminate any confusion.

There are more sign erros around the valley than this. I hope to find and post more of them as I find them!

The Memorial Pkwy NB Service Road Merge Right before Mastin Lake is a Problem

There have been many news reports over the past few days concerning the new overpasses at Sparkman Dr. and Max Luther Dr. It extends the limited access portion of Memorial Pkwy north from south of Max Luther Drive to south of Mastin Lake Rd.

The problem concerns the northbound service road as it merges into the main lanes of Memorial Pkwy just south of the Mastin Lake Rd intersection. The service road merges to one lane and then traffic on the service road has to yield to the lanes on the main lanes going northbound. That is an inconvenience, for sure, but the real safety problem is that drivers on the northbound service road wishing to turn left onto Mastin Lake Rd currently has to come to a stop, hit the accelerator, and get in the left lane so that they can get into the turn lanes to go west on Mastin Lake Rd.

Figure 1: Google Maps view of northbound Memorial Pkwy at and south of Mastin Lake Rd.

I think the current setup of traffic on the service road yielding to the main lanes will soon be changed. I believe the plans for the overpass project call for a third lane going north on Memorial Pkwy which will be created by using the right turn lane to Mastin Lake Rd. That lane will serve as both a through lane and a right turn lane. This will be an improvement since drivers can be going at a higher speed to merge with the main lanes, but it still does not leave a lot of room for drivers to merge over. If this currently isn’t in the plans, then it certainly needs to be.

A similar setup is in place on the south end of town south of the new overpasses at Whitesburg Dr. and Weatherly Dr. Drivers going southbound on the service roads that wish to turn left onto Meadowbrook Dr have to merge across two lanes just as you have to on the north end of town. However, Meadowbrook Dr is a neighborhood street compared to Mastin Lake Rd, which is a major collector road going west from Memorial Pkwy. More drivers turn left at Mastin Lake Rd than at Meadowbrook Dr. Plus, drivers going south before Meadowbrook Drive have 1130 feet in which to get into the turn lane; on the north end at Mastin Lake Rd, drivers only have 777 feet.

Figure 2: Google Maps view of Southbound Memorial Pkwy at and north of Meadowbrook Drive

I believe some additional traffic control will need to be put in place to make this situation safer until the overpass and service roads are built at Mastin Lake Rd. One idea that I have would be to keep northbound service road motorists from merging into the left two lanes to turn left onto Mastin Lake Rd by use of channelizing devices (similar to what Madison has done at Wall-Triana Hwy going northbound north of I-565). They would need to U-turn at a median crossover on Memorial Pkwy north of Mastin Lake Rd and then make a right turn to access Westbound Mastin Lake Rd.

However, this will likely cause even more drivers to cut through the Gander Mountain parking lot to access Mastin Lake Rd. It will also be slightly longer to go past the intersection.

Figure 3: No left turn/U-turn for service road motorists concept

ALDOT or the city of Huntsville could create a new road between the northbound lanes of Memorial Pkwy and the Gander Mountain parking lot that would snake between the parking lot and the gas station on the corner. The road would then terminate at a traffic signal at Mastin Lake Rd where a dedicated left turn could then occur. See Figure 4. The left turn phase here would tie into the existing signal at Memorial Pkwy and Mastin Lake. The intersection could even be set up so that left turning traffic from this new road could “merge” into westbound Mastin Lake Rd right before Memorial Pkwy. This is similar to the western-most exit of the Jones Valley shopping center where motorists that turn left onto Carl T. Jones Rd merge into traffic that doesn’t have to stop, but without there being two signalized intersections back-to-back.. This would allow the use of a phase already built into the existing traffic signal  which wouldn’t impact the intersection as much.

The problem with this would be that the ALDOT or the city of Huntsville would need to take some land from either Gander Mountain and/or the gas station for the road. Also, once the new service roads are done at Mastin Lake Rd, this road would no longer be needed.

Figure 4: New access road from the northbound service road to Mastin Lake Rd.

Whatever is decided upon, something else needs to be done to make this stretch of road safer.

Widening Roads as Development Comes

There are a lot of new developments being built in and around Huntsville these days. New development is always nice, but with that development always comes increased strain on the local road network to carry people to jobs, recreation, shopping, or whatever else. Huntsville is already spread-out (the city limits stretch into both Limestone and Madison Counties), and the road system hasn’t kept up. Those people who drive roads like Jeff Road, Capshaw Rd, Winchester Road, and Old Big Cove Road, just to name a few, suffer through bumper to bumper traffic through rush hour. Local governments are strapped for cash, so they can only widen so much before there is no more money to go around. What can be done to get the roads widened?

When you build a new house or buy a new house. you have to pay a deposit in order to turn the utilities on. This pays for the utility company to provide the proper infrastructure necessary to deliver power, water, sewer, phone, and cable to your home. To extend this analogy, why can’t the developer pay for widening roads that are adjacent to large residential and commercial developments?  The developer most likely already pays the utility company to put in the infrastructure needed so that it is ready once a house is built. Why doesn’t this apply to roads?

To take a look at what this looks like, firstly we go to Shelby County, TN and the city of Memphis. Many roads there either have been widened or are widened in random places. Shelby Drive is an east-west arterial that is six lanes in the city of Memphis, but returns to two lanes in some places around the suburb of Collierville, TN. However, notice what a developer has done to Shelby Drive here:


Shelby Drive does a switchback here (not unlike what some of the Madison County roads do here). However, when the developer built the subdivision above, they shelled out the money to build a widened Shelby Drive to be ready for when the rest of the road is widened. Here is another example along Shelby Drive farther west near the recently-built open-air development “The Avenue”:

As you can see, where a development has access to and from the main road, the road is widened adjacent to the development. Where the development ends, the road returns to two lanes. In some cases, the asphalt and everything is built, but the lanes aren’t used since the section that has been widened is so short that it wouldn’t make sense to open all lanes to traffic.


This obviously wouldn't take care of widening an entire length of road, but it would reduce the amount of money needed by the city or county to widen what remains. It would put widening projects in closer reach, and it would allow cities and counties to reallocate transportation funding for other projects


I ask this question: why isn’t this a requirement for roads in Madison County or Limestone County? Even if it is done through some sort of tax increment financing agreement (similar to what the city of Huntsville is using to improve infrastructure around the Redstone Gateway Development), it would be better than doing nothing at all. A lot of the roads we are driving on are stuck in the 1960’s while the traffic and development has left them far behind. Should we wait for the city or county to come up with the money to widen the roads, or is there another alternative? I think there is.

How to navigate your way through the I-565/Memorial Parkway interchange

As illustrated by this video from WHNT, the striping on Memorial Parkway (referred to from here as simply the parkway) around the I-565 interchange is worn from all of the traffic that uses it. Combine that with the amount of traffic that uses this stretch of road and the onslaught of exit and entrance ramps in the area (seven entrance and exit ramps in the 1.5 mile stretch between Governors Drive and University Drive), it is very confusing and potentially dangerous.

The good news is that this year ALDOT is planning a resurfacing project that will at least provide drivers with a new surface to drive on as well as much better reflectors and striping. However, without additional changes, the road will still be confusing and daunting for Huntsville drivers. I propose a few short term fixes that will make the roadway safer. An ultimate fix would involve reconstructing the entire road, which would probably cost around $150 million, just to take a guess.

My first fix has to do with pavement markings. Recently, ALDOT has started using a style of dotted lines to separate through lanes from those that exit off or turn off. Examples of this in Huntsville can be found on I-565 at the Sparkman Drive/Old Madison Pike exit and on US 431/Governors Drive eastbound approaching Gallatin Street.

Figure 1: Striping for drop lane on Governors Drive eastbound approaching Gallatin Street. Google Maps Link

I would use this style of striping on the parkway to separate the left two lanes of the parkway from the other lanes that eventually exit off. This reinforces the fact that there are only two lanes that you can get in to stay on the parkway throughout the maze of ramps that you encounter.

The above proposal helps those that stay on the parkway, but many people will either enter or exit the parkway from this interchange complex. The overhead signs do help somewhat in being able to tell which lane you need to be in to get to which road you wish to be on, but additional pavement markings would help even more. My suggestion is to paint a highway shield in every lane to show which lane you need to be in. The closest example of this can be found in Atlanta on I-75/85 in downtown going north before I-75 and I-85 split. This uses text instead of actual highway shields, but the concept is the same:

Figure 2: Lane markings in Atlanta that show which lane you need to be in. Google Maps Link.

Highway shields, for those that don’t know what I am talking about, are the signs that you see that have the road numbers in them, such as these:

Figure 3: An example of highway shields

I would paint these on the pavement along with the associated direction (so that you know what lane to be in for I-565 EAST versus I-565 WEST). The state of Texas does this very well.

Figure 4: Highway shields and cardinal directions on pavement along I-610 in Houston, TX. Google maps link

Highway shields can be used instead of road names (US 431 SOUTH instead of Governors Drive, US 72 WEST instead of University Drive, etc.), but this isn’t the case for Clinton Ave or other city streets without highway numbers. For this situation, improved signage could help. Advance signage telling you which lane you need to be in would be helpful, especially as you are exiting off I-565 east to the parkway southbound. Both of those lanes eventually exit off (the right one just ends and the left one exits to Clinton Ave).

These improvements wouldn’t cost a lot of money, and would make sense to do during the repaving projects to occur this summer. I urge ALDOT to consider these improvements for now until the interchange can be rebuilt.

A better Shuttle bus system for Huntsville?

One day when I was living in south Huntsville I was thinking about riding the bus to school at UAH to try and save some gas. There was a bus stop within walking distance to my apartment, so I figured it wouldn’t be too difficult to get to. However, when looking at the route map my hopes of using the bus system to get to UAH was shattered. I would have had to make two transfers, and my trip would have taken over an hour to make one way. Here it is visualized in Google Maps.

I am glad that Huntsville has decided to put their routing on Google Maps. It becomes more accessible than from the city website. There are also improvements that are planned for the Huntsville Shuttle bus system, as it is called. Huntsville Development News sums those improvements up here, along with some ideas on how to improve the bus system.

A better bus system would complement my idea on light rail in Research Park well. I would recommend that the city at least complement circular routes with linear routes that serve a particular highway (University Drive, Whitesburg Drive, Airport/Carl T Jones/Bailey Cove, etc.). Then expand on that system as needed. Look at which roads are the most heavily travelled and base the system around that. After all, if I am going from point A to point B, I don’t want to backtrack (as I would have had to do above in my trip from my apartment to UAH) nor do I want a scenic tour of the city. Of course, some of the loop services make sense to keep, but I would challenge the city of Huntsville at adding some linear bus lines that complement the loop routes that are in place. Eventually, remove the circular routes that don’t have high ridership and use those buses elsewhere.

I have not ridden the bus system in Huntsville before. So I am not in too much of a position to write about it. Well, I am going to ride some of the city shuttle buses over the next few weeks. I would like to learn more about it and see how easy it is to use right now, and then see what improvements can be made.

The $64,000 Question: How do we pay for road, transit improvements?

After listening to this report by ABC news, it makes me wonder: just how are we going to pay for new road improvements? What about transit? You hear bold plans put forth by the city of Huntsville (just take a look at their long-range transportation plan (PDF)). But how do we pay for it?

To put it simply, currently the majority of highway construction funding comes from gasoline taxes. There are national taxes as well as state taxes, county taxes, and city taxes on gasoline. The federal tax on gasoline is 18.4 cents per gallon. The Alabama tax on gasoline is 21 cents per gallon in addition to the federal tax, and the Tennessee tax on gasoline is 21.4 cents per gallon. Diesel fuel is also taxed, but at a different rate.

The idea is fairly straightforward. The more you drive, the more gasoline you will consume, and the more gasoline you consume, the more you will pay in gas tax. Makes sense, right? Well, there are several problems with this model that have contributed to a decrease in revenue for transportation projects.

One of these is inflation of our currency. Simply put, inflation means that one dollar can't buy as much today as it could ten years ago. Inflation has been a steady economic force on the US dollar  As an example, when the Interstate system was first built in the 1950's, the cost of building an interstate averaged around $3 million per mile. If you were to try and build the same type of interstate in 2011, not taking into account design changes required by AASHTO, it would cost you more than eight times as much; $25.2 million, to be exact.

The inflation rate per year has been positive since 1960. The percentages in the graph are a percentage increase over the previous year. Since the inflation rate is the rate of increase from the previous year, then even if the rate goes down the next year, then it would still be an increase over the previous year.

The second problem is that the gasoline tax model itself is flawed. It taxes users on each gallon of gas consumed. The problem with that is that a gallon of gas isn't always worth the same amount, as you all can probably tell. Many factors, including our friend inflation that we discussed above, have played into the higher cost of gasoline. Right now gas is sitting around $3.25 per gallon here. Ten years ago it would be more like $1.40 per gallon. However, since the tax is a tax on how many gallons are consumed, the revenue for that gallon of gas would be the same regardless of the price of that gallon.

The third problem with the gas tax is that vehicles have been getting more fuel efficient. Now we need less gasoline to make the same length of trip as we did a few years ago. Since we need less gasoline, less gasoline tax revenue is made. It is great that vehicles have been getting more fuel efficient, but for our gasoline tax model, it is not so good.

The fourth problem is that it would be political suicide to suggest raising the gasoline tax rate. For this reason, the gasoline tax has not been changed since 1993. Even then, it wasn't raised to finance construction and repairs of highways, but instead it was raised to balance the deficit. With gasoline prices higher, talk of raising the gasoline tax would be a non-starter in just about any group.

The problem, in a nutshell, is that transportation infrastructure is costing more but there is less money coming in to pay for it.  These same problems also exist for mass transit in some form. Knowing that we have little to no control over economic factors such as inflation, what can be done about this problem? What would be the most fair way to generate more revenue for transportation projects?

I seek your opinions on what can be done to fix this problem.

Where do you go when I-565 is closed?

This morning was the first morning this winter when drivers awake to potentially icy roads. The first areas to usually ice over are bridges and high elevation areas. Well, as it turns out I-565 through downtown Huntsville and, by extension, US 72 over Chapman Mountain features both types of hazards. As a result, this stretch of road is often closed when there is snow, ice, or both.

Here is a scenario for you. You live in Memphis and you are trying to get to Chattanooga. Part of your route involves taking I-565 through Huntsville to reach US 72 east. However, when you arrive in Huntsville at 6 AM in the morning, there is a portable message sign in front of the Space and Rocket Center saying that I-565 is closed ahead and all traffic must exit at Exit 17B. The elevated portion of I-565 has been closed due to icy conditions. So you exit at Exit 17B. Where you go from here?

Exit 17B is Governors Drive which used to be the main route into Huntsville before I-565 was constructed. This is the last exit that you encounter before the notorious elevated portion of I-565 begins. Once you are dumped onto Governors Drive, however, there is no signage directing you from there. You have to know where to go. A GPS won’t help you here; it doesn’t know the best way around if I-565 is closed. You either have to know your way around Huntsville, or you are lost.

If you are going west on I-565 or US 72 at Moores Mill Rd, you are dumped onto either Moores Mill Rd or Andrew Jackson Way/Oakwood Ave, depending on whether US 72 over Chapman Mountain is closed. Again, once you are dumped onto the local streets, there are no signs guiding you back to I-565 west of the elevated sections. This is the case if you are going from, let’s say, Chattanooga to Memphis.

Firstly, I am going to propose a very simple solution to this problem of lack of signage. ALDOT may already be implementing this solution (or it is a sign goof), but I would suggest placing “ALTERNATE I-565/US 72” or “DETOUR I-565/US 72”signs along suggested routes to get around the elevated sections of I-565 and US 72 over Chapman Mountain. Here is a picture of a sign I saw in Huntsville a week ago:

Figure 1: A I-565 ALTERNATE sign was posted recently in Huntsville. Is this part of an alternate routing in case I-565 is closed, or a sign error?

The signs I would post throughout the alternate routings would look just like the one above (without the US 231/431 signs), but it would also have a US 72 sign below it as well since it may also be involved in the closure.

I would erect signs such as these, along with two flashing yellow beacons at the top, to inform drivers to follow the posted route if I-565 is closed:

Figure 2: An example of a sign I would erect on US 72 westbound

I would place one before Research Park Blvd and another one in front of the Space and Rocket Center going eastbound on I-565, and then one just west of Dug Hill Rd and just east of Shields Rd on US 72 west.

Now I am sure you are asking: what alternate routing would you suggest if I-565 is closed? Here is my preferred alternative routing:

Figure 3: Alternate route for through traffic if I-565 is closed. Google Maps link.

The route going eastbound would be Exit 17B, AL 53 South/Governors Drive to US 231/431 North/Memorial Pkwy to Winchester Road east to Moores Mill Rd South to US 72 east.  This route works well since all of it is four-lanes. There are two issues with this route. One is the intersection of Moores Mill Rd and Winchester Rd. Large 18-wheelers may have difficulty making the turn from northbound Moores Mill Rd to westbound Winchester Rd.  Alternatives to this intersection would involve taking streets not designed for truck traffic. This intersection has been recently modified as a result of the widening of Winchester Rd.

The other issue arises with Memorial Pkwy. It also has elevated sections. Typically, I-565 gets closed first, but there are also cases when the overpasses along Memorial Parkway also close. This isn’t as bad as I-565 closing since traffic is simply diverted onto the frontage roads, but it can be slow-going along the frontage roads since the traffic signals don’t have an override signal phasing plan that I know if if the overpasses along the parkway are closed.  This could be alleviated by police directing traffic at these intersections or programming a separate signal phasing plan for when the overpasses are closed that would favor traffic continuing along the frontage roads.  You could also take other routes, but you may spend as much time on the other routes as you would on this main alternate routing.

Other routes that may be worth considering  may use Meridian Street, Oakwood Ave, Andrew Jackson Way, and/or California Street, in addition to the route described above.

In the distant future, however, this may not be as big of a problem if the northern bypass of Huntsville is completed to US 72 east. That would provide the best bypass of both Chapman Mountain and the elevated portions of I-565, but we still have a long way to go before that comes to fruition.

Better Guide Signage in Huntsville

For everyday commuters, guide signs are just a blur as one comes into work everyday. However, if you are a tourist or are new to the area, guide signs can be a lifesaver when trying to find your way around. These signs point out the name of the road you are on, but can also tell you what exit you are coming up on, how  many miles you are to the next destination, or what direction to go to reach a destination. Generally, any sign that is green can be classified as a guide sign.

I am goign to talk about three problems with guide signage in Huntsville: how to handle road name changes, how to sign roads that have both a number and a name, and better signage of surrounding cities

Huntsville for the most part does really well with guide signage. However, you could be driving along a road and you know you are on Airport Road. Then all of a sudden, the road name changes to Carl T. Jones Rd. Or, you are looking for Carl T. Jones Rd but you don’t know how to get to it.  Airport Rd is the most obvious example of a road where the name changes several times:

Figure 1: Name changes for “Airport Road.” From northwest to southeast: Johnson Road (Red), Airport Road (Blue), Carl T. Jones (Green), Bailey Cove Rd (Pink), Green Cove Rd (Purple)

There are other roads just in the city of Huntsville that change names like this:

-Jeff Rd/Slaughter Rd
-Sparkman Dr/Bob Wallace Ave/US 72 east
-Old US 431/Sutton Rd/Cecil Ashburn Drive/Four Mile Post Rd
-Governors Drive/US 431 South
-US 72 West/University Drive/Pratt Ave/Bankhead Pkwy
-Memorial Pkwy/US 231/431 Hwy
-Patton Rd/Jordan Lane/Highway 53

Then in Madison you have Wall Triana Hwy, which changes to Sullivan Street once you approach downtown Madison, then once you leave downtown Madison it changes back to Wall Triana Hwy.


When driving on these roads there is little to no warning when the name changes. This can get confusing if you are trying to find an address without a GPS. There are some instances where the name change is signed with a small green sign, but the sign is small and easy to miss:

Figure 2: Courtesy of Google Street View: small sign says “End James Record Rd; Begin Martin Rd” near the Huntsville International Airport

I would prefer to see a large sign that says, for example, (END Airport Rd / BEGIN Carl T. Jones Rd) every time the street name changes. It should be as large as signs on the interstates so that it is hard to miss.

Figure 3: Example of big green sign (BGS) to signify road name change

On a related topic, the state maintained routes have numbers assigned to them in addition to names, in some cases. Here is a list of roads that have overlapping numbers and names in Huntsville

• US 431 (Governors Drive)
• AL 53 (Governors Drive)
• AL 53 (Jordan Lane)
• US 72 (University Drive)
• AL 255 (Research Park Blvd)
• AL 255 (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd)
• US 231 (Memorial Pkwy)
• US 231/431 (Memorial Pkwy)

In a lot of cases, the name and number are used interchangeably, which can lead to confusion. I have a simple solution to this problem. Provide both the street name and route number shield (if applicable) on a guide sign if it is attached to a traffic signal installation. I like how the city of Dallas, TX handles this:

Figure 4: How Dallas, TX handles street names that also have route numbers

Underneath overpasses on interstate highways in Alabama, there are already signs that are similar to these. Here is an example from Huntsville:

Figure 4: Research Park Blvd (AL 255) overpass guide sign along I-565 in Huntsville

Here is an example of what I would do for the Huntsville signs on traffic signals:

Figure 5: An example of how to do street name signs with both route numbers and names in Huntsville, AL

Another problem I have noticed is that there is little no signs telling you what towns or cities you can reach by taking a certain road out of town. No sign tells you that Fayetteville, TN can be reached by taking US 231/431; there is little to no signs that say that US 431 south goes to Guntersville or that Highway 53 goes to Ardmore (and to Nashville) or that US 72 east goes to Chattanooga (Scottsboro is mentioned, but nothing besides that), or that US 231 south/Memorial Pkwy goes to Arab.

The solution here is simple: provide a mileage sign after every major intersection or interchange that says how far it is to the next city, town, or large destination. My preference would be:

• Distance to next town
• Distance to next sizable city
• Distance to next major city

If we use US 72 east as an example, one would arrive at a sign such as this after passing through the Shields Rd intersection:

Figure 6: Hypothetical mileage sign for US 72 east after the Shields Rd intersection

In urban areas, it is also often helpful to post distances to the next major street on these signs as well. This would be especially helpful on US 231/Memorial Pkwy. Sometimes, this is combined with the next city destination as well. Here is an example of one such sign I would place on Memorial Pkwy southbound after the Governors Drive exit:

Figure 7: Hypothetical street mileage sign immediately south of the Governors Drive exit

Even though in this case the next exit would actually be Bob Wallace Avenue, one would encounter that exit immediately after crossing over the top of Governors Drive. Therefore, I have excluded that street from the sign above.

I have other ideas for better guide signs in Huntsville, but this is enough to get to conversation going. Let me know if you have any ideas! Hopefully with better signs, people can get around more easily, and the chances of wrecks will decrease as a result.