I-20/59 downtown viaduct

The I-59/20 downtown viaduct is an elevated section of Interstate 59/20 running east to west through downtown Birmingham from "Malfunction Junction" to 31st Street North. The 1.3 mile section was completed in 1971.

The downtown viaduct was designed to carry 80,000 cars per day. It was originally planned to be built over mounds of fill dirt brought downtown from the Red Mountain cut, but civic leaders eventually pushed for it to be left open underneath for parking. The Alabama Department of Transportation instructed the city that any changes made to its design, and the cost of any delays, would have to be paid for by the city.

In June 1964 the Downtown Improvement Association and Downtown Action Committee joined with the Birmingham City Council in passing resolutions asking Mayor Albert Boutwell to commission a feasibility and cost study for providing space for automobile parking underneath the four block area between 18th and 22nd Street adjoining the Civic Center and also under parts of the Red Mountain Expressway between 2nd and 6th Avenues North near the Birmingham Post Office. At the time it was anticipated that it would be possible to build a two-level parking structure below the interstates, providing as many as 1,360 spaces. Opposition to the proposal came from the operators of private parking lots.

Birmingham's 2003 City Center Master Plan introduced the idea of lowering the interstate into a below-grade cut through downtown and then decking over wide sections of the highway to provide pedestrian plazas connecting the municipal center with the BJCC.

In the 2000s the Department of Transportation proposed a bridge deck replacement project. That proposal was expanded into a viaduct replacement plan, with new, wider bridge decks spanning farther between larger, higher support posts. That scheme eliminates all left-lane exits and most other downtown access roads and proposes using pre-cast concrete deck sections rather than steel beams to reduce road noise. The first phase of preparatory work began in 2015. The second phase of the bridge replacement project was awarded to Granite Construction of Watsonville, California in February 2016.

The lowest bid for the third phase of construction, including the downtown bridge replacement, came in approximately $507.9 million, almost 54% more than ALDOT's estimate of $397 million. The department opted to re-bid that phase of the project, allowing bidders to propose cost-saving changes, with bids due on March 31, 2017.

In July 2018 ALDOT hosted two public meetings to hear residents' proposals for a linear "park", dubbed CityWalk BHAM, which would be constructed below the interstate.

Work on the deck replacement itself began on January 21, 2109, with reopening of the interstate planned to take approximately 14 months, and completion of the entire project expected in November 2020, before the opening of the World Games in 2021.

References

• "Under-highway parking gets unanimous OK from DAC" (June 9, 1964) The Birmingham News - via Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections
• Edgemon, Erin (February 24, 2017) "I-20/59 bridge replacement $150 million over projections, to be rebid." The Birmingham News
• Beahm, Anna (October 16, 2018) "Birmingham braces for I-59/20 bridge demolition in 2019." The Birmingham News
• Pillion, Dennis (December 6, 2018) "I-59/20 in downtown Birmingham will close for 14 months starting in January: Here are the detours." The Birmingham News
• Pillion, Dennis (January 14, 2019) "14-month I-59/20 closure to start January 21." The Birmingham News

External links

• "The I-20/59 Viaduct in Downtown Birmingham, Alabama: Economic Development and Transportation Review" (April 2014) Goody Clancy, for REV Birmingham and City of Birmingham