WHAT IS THE NORTHERN BELTLINE?
The proposed Birmingham Northern Beltline is a 52-mile “limited access expressway” around the northern fringes of Jefferson County. Originally to be four lanes, it is now planned to be a six-lane interstate highway, approximately the size of Corridor X.
The planned route, Alternate A, (http://www.bhammpo.org/docs/BNB.pdf) is the outermost route considered by the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT). Its southern terminus is I-459, south of Bessemer, and its northern terminus is I-59, north of downtown Trussville, near the Carrington neighborhood. It consists of five segments, which are defined on the linked map, with each segment broken up into smaller sections.
WHAT WE OPPOSE
Our opposition is to the planned route of the Northern Beltline through the uppermost reaches of the Cahaba headwaters and watershed, as well as a proposed extension of the beltline through the Little Cahaba watershed, currently on hold for a time .
We are opposed to a beltline route that, according to the ALDOT Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) (p.2-37), “carries the smallest projected traffic volume”; that takes property from some citizens to open property of others, including large land holdings of corporations; that spurs development for some cities, while degrading or contributing to the decline of other cities and destroying neighborhoods, and that needlessly destroys vital natural resources.
SHOULD YOU BE CONCERNED ABOUT THE PLANNED ROUTE?
Concerns about our environment, how best to protect and preserve our natural resources and water shortages and water wars are major issues. In June 2007, the Birmingham Water Works Board announced that the system will not be able to provide water to users by 2025 and that it must find new sources of waters. Yet, the Cahaba River, the primary source of drinking water for customers of the Birmingham Water Works, is literally being destroyed due to erosion, sedimentation and other pollutants from storm water runoff.
Citizens across the nation are outraged over the taking of private property for private development of a so-called “higher use”.
What do those issues have to do with the planned route of the Northern Beltline? The following facts are documented and sources of documentation are cited in our opposition statement.
FACT: Selection of Alternate A is not justified by current or projected traffic volume. It will carry the least volume of traffic of all routes considered and will increase traffic on the already heavily congested section of I-59 between the I-59/I-459 interchange and the planned I-59/beltline interchange (from the end of I-459 to Argo).
FACT: Alternate A was chosen for economic development of northern Jefferson County. That is documented throughout the ALDOT FEIS, which states (p. 2-7), “The purpose for constructing the Birmingham Northern Beltline is to encourage development in the northern Birmingham metropolitan area.”
FACT: So-called economic development will be accomplished by taking property of private citizens to build a highway in order to open large tracts of land owned by other landowners, including U. S. Steel and Drummond Coal Company. The FEIS (p.3-8), states, “Development in the northern portion of Jefferson County has to some extent been controlled by large land holdings and the lack of adequate access to these properties. No major east-west highway facility has been constructed which would open these large land holdings for development.”
FACT: Alternate A is the longest and most environmentally destructive of all the routes considered, as documented in a 1997 U. S. Environmental Protection Agency letter. Numerous other agencies have voiced similar concerns.
FACT: The Cahaba River Society has expressed substantial concerns about impacts of the Northern Beltline to the Cahaba headwaters – the latest in a December 2006 letter.
FACT: The Cahaba River is of vital importance to Alabama citizens, as it provides about 60% of the water for the Birmingham Water Works Board, which serves one-fourth of the state’s citizens.
FACT: The Cahaba has become so degraded and polluted that it is imperiled and does not meet the standards of the federal Clean Water Act. It has been on the state listing of impaired waters since 1999. The 2006 list shows 12 segments and 135.9 miles of the river as impaired for water quality and quantity.
FACT: Degradation of the Cahaba River is primarily due to sedimentation and pollutants from urbanization and commercial development.
FACT: ALDOT acknowledges in their FEIS that construction and ongoing life of the Northern Beltline will pollute and degrade waterways, stating, “The factors affecting the severity of the impact of this project on the water quality of streams in this project corridor include: Erosion – Accidental Spills – Petroleum Contamination – Fertilizer, Lime, Herbicides, and Pesticides – Turbidity – De-icing Materials – Bridge Maintenance”.
FACT: Two sections of Segment 5 of the beltline, including a major interchange and extensive secondary road construction, are planned through the uppermost reaches of the Cahaba headwaters and watershed lands rated as “most sensitive to development” during the Upper Cahaba Watershed Study. These two sections begin at Brookwood Road in Palmerdale, east of Highway 75, and end at I-59 in Trussville – a second major interchange in the upper Cahaba watershed. Between Butler Mountain, where the beltline will enter the Cahaba watershed, and I-59, the proposed beltline will cross the Cahaba River main stem and 8 major tributaries of the river.
FACT: Protection of the Cahaba headwaters has been deemed critically important to a healthy water supply for metro-Birmingham by an Upper Cahaba Watershed Study consultant.
SOURCE IS WORKING FOR PROTECTION OF THE CAHABA HEADWATERS TO HELP PRESERVE THE RIVER AS A SAFE AND PLENTIFUL DRINKING WATER RESOURCE AND RECREATIONAL AND EDUCATIONAL WATERWAY. GENERATIONS TO COME ARE DEPENDENT UPON TODAY’S GENERATION TO BE GOOD STEWARDS OF OUR NATURAL RESOURCES.
