Tuscaloosa to Formally Ask ALDOT to Keep Doomed Access Road Open
Elected officials in Tuscaloosa are gearing up to formalize their concerns with the Alabama Department of Transportation's plan to demolish a critical access road on McFarland Boulevard during their project to add lanes to the nearby Woolsey Finnell bridge over the Black Warrior River.
As the Thread first reported in June, Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox and his staff have a long list of issues about the project, including its aesthetics and pedestrian connectivity.
Chief among those worries, though, is ALDOT's plan to permanently close and demolish one end of Julia Tutwiler Drive where it links McFarland Boulevard to places including the Tuscaloosa Magnet Schools, Baumhower's Victory Grille, a Hampton Inn, a church and PopStroke.
In city meetings, officials have said ALDOT told them this was a safety issue and crash data suggested the access road needs to go away, but they have also said the state agency has provided zero data to actually back those claims up.
Now, Maddox and the city council are working to formalize their complaints and deliver them to ALDOT, Governor Kay Ivey, the Tuscaloosa legislative delegation and our Congressional delegation - those elected officials who represent the region in Montgomery and Washington DC.
"I would encourage us to get something out as soon as possible, letting the state know that the city of Tuscaloosa has concerns," Maddox said. "Then send that to the governor, send it directly to the ALDOT director and our delegations in hopes that can continue their conversations with us to find what is best for the state and what's best for our churches, our local businesses and our schools."
The project has already gone through ALDOT's traditional public comment period, and Maddox said his fear is that once they have a final design in hand, they won't be eager to edit them.
"We're at the point now where we really have to make our concerns known about this. Once this is done by ALDOT, it will be impossible for us to put the genie back in the bottle and this will have major ramifications," Maddox said. "My feeling is that once they come out with plans from the Montgomery office - because they've had a public input period, it's going to be very difficult at that point to get anything changed. That's why I think it's really important that the city sends a message now about our public safety concerns, our economic development concerns and quite frankly just the convenience for motorists."
If ALDOT demolishes the road as they plan to, people will have to either use longer routes via Campus Drive or University Boulevard to get to the schools, church, hotel, restaurant or PopStroke putting course.
"Access to the businesses, the church, schools, etc. - that will be impeded if it's closed, which impacts emergency response to that area," Maddox said. "That closure would also impact future commercial development in that area, a development corridor we think could grow the city's tax base in the future."
Others agreed.
"People want access to this area because of the access from McFarland. If that is taken away, it will definitely damage the businesses that are there and it will essentially minimize or eliminate the value of the existing vacant property there," said city COO Brendan Moore. "We have a lot of interest from other users but they're going to monitor this situation and if they see a change, they're immediately off the table."
"It will stop or inhibit future growth and there's still property there to be developed," councilman Norman Crowe said. "It's really going to hurt those existing businesses."
Maddox said city staff would draft a resolution the council can consider at next Tuesday's meeting. If they vote to approve it, he would immediately distribute it to the state and federal leaders above.
For updates on the project and the city's concerns with it, stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread.
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