If you’ve got time (and can beat the traffic), be at the Vestavia Hills Civic Center at 2 p.m. The Progress 280 Task Force is expected to offer its long-awaited recommendation after hearing a final report on community support for elevated lanes above Highway 280.

The word is that the very vocal opposition along the Jefferson County stretch of 280 has spared those communities from Alabama’s omnipresent answer to sprawl – more roads! However, the task force’s consultant, Florida-based Linda Figg, says enough Shelby County residents want the double-decker along their five miles to go ahead and fire up those ALDOT engines. Admiral David Farragut may have been a Yankee (from Tennessee, no less – how did that happen?), but we bet he’d enjoy making this call: “Damn mass transit! Road contractors, full speed ahead!) Anyways, if you’ve got a dog in the race, be sure to show up and see if the task force indeed decides to do this thing halfway.

Elevated Roadblock

Always fans of grassroots activism, we here at the Weekly have taken a liking to a new blog. Rebecca and Bob Moody of Mountain Brook have started Stop Elevated Highway, a simple blogspot page featuring alternatives to the elevated Highway 280 proposal.

It’s understandable that the southerly Shelby County commuters are frustrated with the congestion on Birmingham’s least favorite road, but much like the Iraq War, aspects of this solution looks worse than the problem itself. While artistic renderings of the proposal look rosy, the Moodys’ blog points out that some things have been left out of the pretty pictures. Shadows, for instance. And onramps and exits? Don’t see those. And the induced demand for more development, hence more traffic, hence the same problem five or 10 years down the road? Nada.

Elevated 280 proponents have pitched the plan almost as an ecological sculpture, but a bit of Bob’s photography shows the reality of other, smaller viaducts in Birmingham. And that’s just the beginning to their much-needed reality check. The blog links to news stories from other places where such projects have run into serious problems or have been dismantled altogether. Also, there you will find more neighborly solutions to the 280 problem that employ actual smart growth concepts.

The Moodys have linked to two online petitions opposing the elevated 280. According to Bob, the two petitions have already gathered a cumulative 800 signatures.

— Phillip Jordan & Kyle Whitmire