Official: Corridor X to open to Jasper by next springED HOWELL Thursday's meeting was no different. Steve Ostaseski, who works on transportation issues for the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham, said it now appears the highway will be opened to Industrial Boulevard in Jasper by spring 2005 and to Adamsville by the end of that same year. However, other information released at the meeting repeated past reports it would not be open to Adamsville until later into 2006. No other openings will take place before Jasper. "They want to open it up all the way to Jasper in one fell swoop," Ostaseski said. The traffic coming off Highway 129 now, where Corridor X officially ends, exits onto Highway 78 using about five lanes, he said. To expect to use any of the two-lane roads between there and Jasper, such as Highway 13, would create a traffic nightmare that has led engineers to wait until Jasper. "Highway 13 could not handle that flow," he said. Ostaseski noted signs calling the highway "Future I-22" are currently being made in Montgomery, although they will be expensive. However, Jefferson County Commissioner Mary Buckalew, who presided over the meeting, said the signs would be well worth it no matter how expensive they are. About 35 miles of the $1 billion highway are now in use in Marion County, with 3.7 miles still under construction, according to sheets handed out at the meeting. About 13 miles are in use in Walker County, with about 27.6 miles still under construction in the county. In Jefferson County nearly 12 miles are under construction and about 4 miles are under design. The same sheet shows the "goals" for opening the highway to Jasper in spring 2005, but they also show that, as a goal, the road would not be open to Graysville until fall 2006. It noted, "Dates are subject to change." In explaining his projection, Ostaseski noted bids for base and paving through to U.S. 78 in Graysville should be let this September. The letting for second stage paving is scheduled for January from the Walker County line to Cherry Avenue, east of Graysville, and the bid letting for second stage paving from Jasper to the Jefferson County line is set for June 2005. Ostaseski said second stage paving is the last paving to be done, and that should allow the project to be completed by the end of 2005, although he cautioned these are estimates. He occasionally used "2006" in referring to Graysville, and then corrected himself, saying he was thinking in terms of the fiscal year and that the end of calendar year 2005 would fall in fiscal year 2006. Ostaseski said he could not confirm rumors of problems with a bridge between Highway 233 and Jasper, but he would look into the situation. Meanwhile, the task force, which meets quarterly, heard Ostaseski is planning on meeting with landowners and developers in Hamilton, Jasper and Birmingham so that officials can get a better handle of how much development to expect in the future. While a meeting with landowners went well in Hamilton on June 15, Ostaseski said, "We learned in Hamilton we needed a lot more input from landowners." A Huntsville consulting firm has been hired to help with the gathering of that input in the three upcoming meetings. Ostaseski also noted Jasper Mayor Don Goetz has requested he also meet individually with local landowners, which he plans to do in regards to those landowners that he is aware of. Those meetings have not been scheduled, but Ostaseski said they would occur soon. He also said an economic data and development report for the Corridor X area would be completed by Sept. The task force will convene the technical subcommittee at the CHS Building on Sept. 9 to review the report and fine tune it. Then the report will be presented to the full task force on Sept. 30 at 2 p.m. at the CHS building. "We'll devote that September meeting entirely to the economic forecast," he said. Ostaseski also reviewed highlights of the Hamilton meeting, in connection to suggested methods of limited access at certain intersections. At Alabama Highway 129, which has been discussed at length in previous models, it was noted the city of Winfield has nearly 300 acres of land to develop. Officials suggested that the access to development on that property be made 1,000 to 1,200 feet down from the interchange, with access running parallel to Highway 129 to the interchange and the looping to run parallel to Corridor X. All of that access would be made on land that Winfield manages, Ostaseski said. |