Well I admire this guys determination but the only thing it will do is cause
this project to go to the bottom of the pile. Thanks ALDOT for killing economic growth!
By STEVE DOYLE
Times Staff Writer
[email protected]
Resident says state pledged to build at Blake Bottom
MONROVIA - Jack Bozeman is determined to hold the state Department of Transportation to its promise.
Bozeman says he was in the crowd when a DOT official told Monrovia residents in 1992 that a proposed extension of Rideout Road (now Research Park Boulevard) would include an overpass at Blake Bottom Road.
The pledge is now on shaky ground. Last month, state Transportation Director Joe McInnes said his agency, at the request of Huntsville leaders, shifted money from the Blake Bottom project in 2004 to build a four-lane access road to Toyota's engine plant. If the city or county want an overpass at Blake Bottom, McInnes said, they'll have to find the cash to pay for it.
If Research Park Boulevard is extended without an overpass or interchange at Blake Bottom, drivers who want to get to Blake Bottom will have to drive about a mile out of their way to Alabama 53, then loop back around on the service road.
Bozeman, who lives on Dan Tibbs Road, says that's not fair. He's written to Gov. Bob Riley. He spends weekends going door to door in Monrovia, talking about why an overpass is needed. On Sunday, he put up a large plywood sign at Blake Bottom and Indian Creek roads urging passersby to pressure state leaders to keep their word.
"Everyone I've talked to about this was surprised," Bozeman said Wednesday. "No one knows what the highway department is doing, which is how the highway department likes it. It's easier to get forgiveness than permission."
Madison County Commissioner Dale Strong, R-Monrovia, said the lack of an overpass at Blake Bottom and Research Park Boulevard will snarl traffic, endanger children on buses and delay ambulances on their way to emergencies.
"It's going to create a hazard," he said Wednesday. "I know the DOT is underfunded, but these overpasses assist people in getting home safely. I'm just struggling to know that the right hand knows what the left hand is doing."
Blake Bottom is among the county's busiest two-lane roads, used by about 8,000 vehicles a day. That's about the same number that use Clinton Avenue downtown and the busiest part of Franklin Street in the medical district.
Traffic on Blake Bottom will grow thicker in the coming years, Bozeman said, as transferring Army families buy homes in the Monrovia area. Also, a 763-lot subdivision, Anslee Farms, is under construction on Blake Bottom near Research Park Boulevard.
Bozeman, an information technology expert for Sanmina-SCI, said forcing all those drivers to circle through the Alabama 53-Research Park Boulevard intersection is a recipe for disaster.
Tony Harris, a DOT spokesman in Montgomery, told The Times last month that the proposed design is "not an unusual traffic configuration. It is a change that people will have to adapt to."
The agency has also said Alabama 53 and Blake Bottom Road are too close together to allow ramps at both intersections.
Bozeman, 55, isn't giving up. He recently started a blog, "35806 Take Action," to keep residents informed about the overpass situation. The blog name refers to Monrovia's zip code.
He also hopes to collect enough signatures on a petition to force transportation officials to reconsider the overpass.
"This is a slow process; it's not something that happens in a week's time or a month's time." Bozeman said. "But there's strength in numbers."
Sonny Wilson, owner of Wilson Garage Door Co. on Dan Tibbs Road, has agreed to help gather signatures. For Wilson, the lack of an overpass is partly an economic issue because his truck drivers would be forced to take a longer route and burn more gasoline.
"I don't see how they can just pull out of what they promised," he said Wednesday. "They might have to take money from one of the other projects they've got going, but they promised this and need to abide by it."
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I think Huntsville is building too many shopping plaza's.... Huntsville would look really good with some 15-30 story buildings with the mountains in the back ground.
. So the city is pulling these areas in.Hunstville had about 22 murders lat last year. Prichard (north of Mobile city limits)which is the most dangerous city in the state had 18 murders last year with a population of around 30,000 simular in size of Madison but they havn`t experinced any population decline which is amazing. I believe in the 2010 census Huntsville should be around 180- 185,000 and hopefuly wre still at 192,000 or back around 200,000 if the annexation and industry continue the way it is we will or pass the 200,000 mark.
it takes them too long to finish ANYTHING.
And plus when they start to build that SweetWater Plaza on the corner of i-65 and i-565 that will also help the growth!
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