Awesome photos, BamaGrad04!
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OK, sorry to follow that up with this, but Exodus and MobileAl1 need to be educated.
First of all, comparison of populations within city limits does not give an accurate representation of how large a city really is. The population of the City of Mobile is roughly half that of the City of Atlanta, but do you honestly believe that Mobile is about half the size of Atlanta (Atlanta's MSA population is around 8 to 10 times larger)? Here's a quote from a previous discussion with MobileAl1 on 12/30/04:
One only needs to compare aerial views of each city's CBD to see how big of a size difference there is between each city/metro:
Birmingham aerials courtesy of LSyd
Go ahead and admit it MobileAl1...you are so afraid to speak truthfully about Birmingham because for some idiotic reason you think that saying anything good about Birmingham will reflect negatively on Mobile. How narrowminded of you. You can appreciate what other cities have to offer and still remain a loyal booster of your hometown.
Anyway, this is basically a follow up/rephrasing of what Blazer85 already said to you. You know you've entered the Birmingham MSA as soon as you reach the Calera exit, more than 30 miles south of Downtown Birmingham. From that point on there is signficant development at every exit all the way to Downtown Birmingham and beyond, and from the AL 119 exit in Pelham (15 miles south of Downtown Birmingham), there are continuous signs of development between the exits as well from that point on.
On the other hand, you first realize that you are entering the Mobile MSA when you reach Creola, 17 miles outside of Downtown Mobile--14 miles directly if you draw a straight line (well, surprise, surprise...that's roughly half the distance of Calera from Birmingham...sort of reinforces the Birmingham metro being twice as large idea, eh?)--and development doesn't become continous along the interstate until about 8 miles later when you reach Chickasaw.
"24 miles outside of Mobile"? Apparently, you're thinking that a few gas stations at the AL 287 exit in Baldwin County are signs of "civilization" (LOL). If that is the case, then you'll have to consider the development at the Clanton exits as the first signs of "civilization" when entering the Birmingham metro area. Chilton County is, after all, part of the Birmingham MSA (Baldwin is only part of Mobile's
CMSA). Or perhaps you're counting the entire length of I-65 until it ends at I-10. If that is the case, then you're obviously forgetting that the only fair comparison is to follow I-165 into Downtown Mobile because after the I-165 junction, I-65 basically becomes a bypass of Mobile (comparable to I-459 in Birmingham) following an arc with an approximate 6-mile radius from Downtown Mobile all the way to I-10. The only comparable route in the Birmingham MSA would be to follow I-65 to Hoover, and then take I-459 north until it ends in Trussville.
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I appreciate the comments from everyone, it's definately made me want to do that every time I get down to Mobile.
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