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Engineer to show plan for raised 280
Columns for the elevated lanes would run down the present highway's median, requiring no additional right of way.
No columns would be placed near the Cahaba River. "There will be no environmental issues," McInnes said.
If Progress 280 approves the design plan today, Figg will hold four public meetings Aug. 28-29. The meetings will be at the Birmingham Marriott Hotel, 3590 Grandview Parkway.
"Figg wants Progress 280 to accept the design before it goes to the public," said Barry Copeland, executive vice president of the Chamber of Commerce. He is also liaison between Progress 280 and the chamber.
Progress 280 hired Figg last June to study elevated lanes for U.S. 280. Her firm has designed numerous bridges around the nation, some of which are elevated roadways.
Last September, Gov. Bob Riley invited Figg to meet with Progress 280 to discuss a Tampa bridge that her firm designed to alleviate traffic problems similar to those on U.S. 280. The Tampa road is elevated for six miles and connects downtown with suburban Brandon.
Progress 280 raised approximately $250,000 from businesses, counties and cities along the highway to hire Figg.
DOT Division Engineer Brian Davis said DOT officials will listen to what Progress 280 has to say about Figg's preliminary work.
He said Wednesday's meeting was to ensure that Figg was operating within DOT guidelines. "We're not telling her what to do, but giving her recommended DOT practices," Davis said.
Elevated 280 could be halved
If only half the elevated lanes are built, plans for a flyover from I-459 to 280 west will have to be revamped to accommodate traffic from the proposed elevated lanes to 280's western segment.
That would leave the western section of 280 functioning as it does now.
At one time, Progress 280 wanted a series of interchanges along the highway from Alabama 119 to Office Park Drive. Those plans were abandoned when the group determined that the interchanges would be obsolete by the time they were built.
Transportation officials say the Jefferson County segment can't be converted to an expressway because there's no room for interchanges or service roads. Property is especially scarce at the Rocky Ridge Road intersection.
Traffic planners say those opposed to an elevated expressway also would be opposed to elevated lanes in an interchange along the existing 280.
No Plan B:
Turning the existing 280 into an expressway is not a new idea. It was first proposed in 1986 in the Douglas study. Transportation officials dropped it because it was too expensive.
If the proposal for elevated lanes falters, there is "no fallback plan" for interchanges or making the highway a freeway, said Bill Foisy, traffic planner for the Metropolitan Planning Organization. The MPO approves all federal transportation funds in Jefferson and Shelby counties.
"Let's not forget the $20 million for access management and for additional lanes along 280," Foisy said. Shelby County officials are implementing access management from Double Oak Mountain to the Talladega County line.
DOT still plans to widen U.S. 280 from I-459 to Eagle Point in Shelby County. Work is scheduled for 2009. The widening, however, won't be necessary if elevated lanes are approved.
DOT spokesman Tony Harris said the department isn't looking at anything beyond Figg's proposal.
Progress 280 is pinning its hopes for garnering public support for elevated lanes on Figg, the consultant. She is a specialist in getting the community involved in planning her bridges.
Figg held 20 meetings with various politicians and residents besides the four public hearings she conducted Monday and Tuesday. She has plans for more meetings, which she calls "listening tours."
One hundred people will be invited to private meetings with Figg on Tuesday, Wednesday and Sept. 11.
The public has been invited to sign up for "design charettes" scheduled Sept. 20 and 21 to help decide what the overhead structure would look like. More public hearings, divided by western and eastern segments, are scheduled in mid-November to discuss design concepts for the structure.
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