Huntsville updates

[HSVTiger]

exciting news is coming in regard to the Councill Court site. We know a bank
and it sounds like a large parking garage and condo/apartments are in the works. It is desired that a greenway be created along Fagan Creek which will tie in nicely with Big Spring Park..stay tuned, more may be revealed at the next summit.


The event is scheduled for 6 p.m. July 21 at the Big Spring Partners office on the courthouse square. (The old bank building on the west side)

Ideas can be submitted through an interactive map on the city's website, huntsvilleal.gov/downtownideas/, or via a new Facebook page, "Bright Ideas: Downtown Huntsville."

[HSVTiger]

Alabama League of Municipalities' annual convention is meeting in Huntsville over the next 4 days. It rotates each year among Birmingham,Mobile, Huntsville and Montgomery. Welcome to the Rocket City!

[HSVTiger]

Vision Airlines after 3 months is ending service (Destin) next month along with 4 other cities (Baton Rouge, Savannah, Columbia, Greenville/Spartanburg). Their load factor was around 75-80% pretty good it seems but guess their twice weekly flight wasn't enough.

[ThatGuy]

Originally Posted by HSVTiger

Vision Airlines after 3 months is ending service (Destin) next month along with 4 other cities (Baton Rouge, Savannah, Columbia, Greenville/Spartanburg). Their load factor was around 75-80% pretty good it seems but guess their twice weekly flight wasn't enough.

That is too bad. It's hard to get community buy-in for these "no-name" airlines when they are here and gone before most people have even heard about them.

[HSVTiger]

Originally Posted by ThatGuy

That is too bad. It's hard to get community buy-in for these "no-name" airlines when they are here and gone before most people have even heard about them.

yeah there is probably more to this story than blaming the cities served,
maybe more flights per week and upgrade of equipment would have helped. That is probably what the existing service to most of the other cities have.

[SpawnOfVulcan]

Anyone know the status of overpass projects on the Parkway? Also, what about the plan for the Research Park Blvd and AL 53?

I saw a news story on WAFF about the overpass projects on the Parkway, so I got interested in how things were coming along.

[TimCity2000]

Originally Posted by HSVTiger

exciting news is coming in regard to the Councill Court site. We know a bank
and it sounds like a large parking garage and condo/apartments are in the works. It is desired that a greenway be created along Fagan Creek which will tie in nicely with Big Spring Park..stay tuned, more may be revealed at the next summit.


The event is scheduled for 6 p.m. July 21 at the Big Spring Partners office on the courthouse square. (The old bank building on the west side)

Ideas can be submitted through an interactive map on the city's website, huntsvilleal.gov/downtownideas/, or via a new Facebook page, "Bright Ideas: Downtown Huntsville."

c'mon, huntsville... get this one right!

[HSVTiger]

On a related topic seems like a waste of time and money because other studies will be done along with crippling delays. This could potentially shut
the main corridor into the city from the west (an interstate highway) down. First question is WHY? Why accept excuses and delays?

From HSV Times
HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- A consultant hired by the city of Huntsville is recommending a $106 million update to the Interstate 565/Research Park Boulevard interchange to improve traffic flow in the fast-growing area.

If city and state officials follow the advice of Skipper Consulting, the existing cloverleaf design will be replaced by four new "flyover" bridges and on-ramps arcing high over the current roadway.

Picture something along the lines of the I-65/I-20/I-59 crossroads in Birmingham, or the junction of I-65 and I-40 in Nashville.

But don't expect it anytime soon.
Steve Dinges, an assistant director of the city planning department, said the Alabama Department of Transportation has yet to commit any money to the project.

Once that happens, he said, detailed construction drawings could take three or four years followed by another potentially long wait for state and federal construction dollars.

"This is an extremely long-term project," acting Huntsville Planning Director Marie Bostick said Tuesday.
The city hired Skipper Consulting late last year to study the I-565/Research Park Boulevard junction and suggest design changes to keep traffic flowing smoothly for the next 20 years.

Already, nearly 50,000 vehicles zip past the U.S. Space & Rocket Center on eastbound I-565 every day. With the massive Redstone Gateway office park coming online next year and more growth expected at Cummings Research Park and Bridge Street Town Centre, the area has the potential to become a traffic nightmare.

The $1 billion Gateway development will eventually be home to as many as 15,000 Army employees and defense contractors, plus two hotels, restaurants and stores.

[HSVTiger]

For ALDOT and our pathetic attempt at road building on any kind of schedule

BEIJING -- China has opened the world's longest cross-sea bridge.

The Jiaozhou Bay bridge is 26 miles (42 kilometers) long and links China's eastern port city of Qingdao to the island of Huangdao.

State-run CCTV says the 110-foot (35-meter)-wide bridge is the longest of its kind and cost more than 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion).

CCTV says the bridge passed construction appraisals on Monday and the bridge and an undersea tunnel opened to traffic on Thursday.

The bridge supported by more than 5,000 pillars was built in four years.

Guinness World Records says the previous record holder for a bridge over water is the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in Louisiana. The Chinese bridge is more than 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) longer.

From Huffpost World.

Sadly in a couple of weeks The United States involvement in manned spaceflight will be pretty much over at least for 4-5 years. Maybe we can all work at wal mart.

[neilson]

Originally Posted by HSVTiger

For ALDOT and our pathetic attempt at road building on any kind of schedule

BEIJING -- China has opened the world's longest cross-sea bridge.

The Jiaozhou Bay bridge is 26 miles (42 kilometers) long and links China's eastern port city of Qingdao to the island of Huangdao.

State-run CCTV says the 110-foot (35-meter)-wide bridge is the longest of its kind and cost more than 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion).

CCTV says the bridge passed construction appraisals on Monday and the bridge and an undersea tunnel opened to traffic on Thursday.

The bridge supported by more than 5,000 pillars was built in four years.

Guinness World Records says the previous record holder for a bridge over water is the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in Louisiana. The Chinese bridge is more than 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) longer.

From Huffpost World.

Sadly in a couple of weeks The United States involvement in manned spaceflight will be pretty much over at least for 4-5 years. Maybe we can all work at wal mart.

Once you accept that ALDOT always be slow, it's not so bad. I understand that some projects will never be done in my lifetime, and I'm ok with that. We can't change the politics of ALDOT, so it's ok to accept the reality of the situation. We have what we have, and should be glad that it's not any worse.

[ttownfeen]

Originally Posted by HSVTiger

For ALDOT and our pathetic attempt at road building on any kind of schedule

BEIJING -- China has opened the world's longest cross-sea bridge.

The Jiaozhou Bay bridge is 26 miles (42 kilometers) long and links China's eastern port city of Qingdao to the island of Huangdao.

State-run CCTV says the 110-foot (35-meter)-wide bridge is the longest of its kind and cost more than 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion).

CCTV says the bridge passed construction appraisals on Monday and the bridge and an undersea tunnel opened to traffic on Thursday.

The bridge supported by more than 5,000 pillars was built in four years.

Guinness World Records says the previous record holder for a bridge over water is the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in Louisiana. The Chinese bridge is more than 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) longer.

From Huffpost World.

Sadly in a couple of weeks The United States involvement in manned spaceflight will be pretty much over at least for 4-5 years. Maybe we can all work at wal mart.

This reminds of the episode of 30 Rock where the main character's British "boyfriend" laments the upcoming London Olympics, remarking how in they will be a letdown after the Beijing Olympics: "I can't suffer through the London Olympics. We're not prepared, Liz! Did you see the Beijing opening ceremonies? We don't have control over our people like that."

[HSVTiger]

Originally Posted by neilson

Once you accept that ALDOT always be slow, it's not so bad. I understand that some projects will never be done in my lifetime, and I'm ok with that. We can't change the politics of ALDOT, so it's ok to accept the reality of the situation. We have what we have, and should be glad that it's not any worse.

That is ALDOTS motto , be glad it's not any worse.
We should not accept that especially when you see pure stupidity which negates any jobs that they do well.
The Moores Mill /Winchester Rd intersection has been under construction for over 3 years. There have been skyscrapers, bridges, freeways, space shuttle flights done in less time. Always an excuse, always a delay, always no money.

[Jugernagt]

Originally Posted by David1502

Colonial Properties now has a website for the new Wal-Mart Shopping Center located on 72 West just west of Balch Rd. (in the HSV City Limits). Construction is set to begin in July.

Here are links to
A. The site plan:
http://files.residentworks.com/media_library/2161/4c191c7f00fc9765.pdf

B. The Fact Sheet which includes an artists rendering
http://files.residentworks.com/media_library/2161/4d505c0489312581.pdf

Did anyone else notice these two plats don't match?

[neilson]

Originally Posted by HSVTiger

That is ALDOTS motto , be glad it's not any worse.
We should not accept that especially when you see pure stupidity which negates any jobs that they do well.
The Moores Mill /Winchester Rd intersection has been under construction for over 3 years. There have been skyscrapers, bridges, freeways, space shuttle flights done in less time. Always an excuse, always a delay, always no money.

ALDOT's just lazy, and they give zero incentive for contractors to get a normal job done in time. There's no reason to get a project done quickly if nobody in the main office cares.

[bamastu13]

This is a little off topic, but...
I think a MindMixer website, like the Tuscaloosa Forward committee has for rebuilding Tuscaloosa would be a great idea for Huntsville. It could be set up by the city and have threads related to different areas of the city of different developments that Huntsville residents could give input on. For example, there could be threads on the Council Court redevelopment, a general downtown thread, or just an ideas thread. I think this would be an easy way for citizens to be heard and to be involved with the future of Huntsville.

Here is a link to the site if anyone wants to check it out:
http://www.mindmixer.com/

[HSVTiger]

kind of already doing it
http://www.huntsvilleal.gov/downtownideas/

[bamastu13]

Well, that works too haha. Thanks.

[HSVTiger]

A lot of good things in this area along with great potential;

The National Park Service listed Huntsville’s Lowe Mill and Mill Village Historic District in the National Register of Historic Places on June 24, 2011. Lowe Mill Village is one of four mill villages in Huntsville. Of these four it has the most intact historic textile mill complex. Today the mill serves the community as an arts and entertainment center and is home to numerous independent businesses.WAFF TV

[HSVTiger]

Groundbreaking downtown this morning for the six story Belk Hudson lofts.
Go man go

from WAAY
On Monday morning, crews will break ground on downtown Huntsville's largest residential project in more than ten years.

The city is contributing $450,000 to the development with the goal of attracting young professionals to downtown living.

The new lofts will be located at the old Belk Hudson building on the corner of Washington Street and Holmes Avenue. They're being developed by Sealy Property Management. And with rent starting at $850 per month for a one bedroom, they're being marketed as the city's first affordable downtown option.

[HSVTiger]

Where will Audi build? The easy answer is Chattanooga, the better answer is Huntsville.

Volkswagen’s sister company Audi has decided to build an auto assembly plant in North America, and it’s looking at an added drive train factory, according to Automotive News.

Audi CEO Rupert Stadler said a decision will be made within three years concerning details of the assembly plant such as models, location and capacity, the report said.

That second plant could be shared with the VW division, which opened an assembly plant this spring in Chattanooga.

The $1 billion Chattanooga plant, when fully operational, will have capacity to build 150,000 vehicles a year. But Volkswagen of America President Jonathan Browning said at the Detroit auto show in January that the plant could be expanded to produce 500,000 vehicles.

In addition, VW has said there’s enough land at its Enterprise South industrial park site to duplicate the existing plant.