Business owners lobby ALDOT to alter 280 intersection plan

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Official word from the Alabama Department of Transportation is that the revised U.S. 280 intersection improvement plans are final and will be bid in April, but some local business owners are hoping there’s still time for change.

ALDOT presented its final versions during a public involvement meeting Feb. 28 at the Church of Brook Hills. There, Cahaba Plaza owners Scott Buzbee and Cathy Galbreath Buzbee poured over the overhead image of the Resource Center Parkway.

ALDOT plans to remove the signal on U.S. 280 at the intersection and prohibit left turns from the highway into their center, which houses among other businesses Absco Fireplace and Patio, Macarena Grocery, and Courtyard Bar and Grill.

Their primary concern isn’t the inconvenience – it’s the impossibility. The only right in/out entrance to their center will likely deter customers, they said, but removing left turn access from eastbound 280 requires large trucks to conduct a complicated maneuver at the crossing east of Cahaba Park Circle to reach them.

The maneuver requires crossing the highway at an unsignalized location, traveling down a decline and making a less-than-90-degree turn on an incline – all within a few car lengths.

This would be required to service not only the Buzbees’ businesses, but also others in the area including Papa Johns Pizza, Zaxbys and NTB.

Scott Buzbee said more than a dozen trucks a day use the signal to reach those businesses. He added after he learned of ALDOT’s proposal, he had a delivery truck attempt the maneuver.

“He just about got stuck,” Scott said of the attempt. “These trucks, they just can’t do it. And forcing them to is going to kill our business”

During the meeting, the Buzbees discussed their concerns with project consultant Darrell Skipper, president of Skipper Consulting in Birmingham, who indicated redrafting the Resource Center Parkway intersection to include an unsignalized left turn from 280 eastbound may be a possibility.

Of the other 26 intersection improvements proposed in November 2012, few changes were made following public comments except to those in Mountain Brook. ALDOT Preconstruction Engineer Lance Taylor said during the meeting that the biggest additions to the project were improvements to Rocky Ridge Road. There, ALDOT will increase the left turn lanes onto 280 to three, coordinate signals between Shades Crest Road and 280 and make Florida Short Route into a cul-de-sac.

“Unless something else arises,” Taylor said, “we want to have these projects bid in April and completed by Thanksgiving.

Following are the finalized intersection changes proposed by ALDOT:

1. Hampton Inn / Kocvac Center: Signal to be removed. Left turns from U.S. 280 permitted. Left turns onto 280 from side streets now require taking right turns then U-turns.

2. Office Park: Signal will remain. Dual left turns onto 280 from side streets. Direct travel across intersection will require right turn then U-turn.

3. Lakeshore: Acceleration lane onto 280 East will be extended to Brook Manor Drive.

4. Cherokee Road: Eastbound traffic on 280 will not stop, but 280 eastbound left turns will remain signalized. Left turns and direct travel across the intersection from side streets will now require taking right turns then U-turns. The pick-up lane from the Lakeshore on-ramp will be extended to Rocky Ridge Road, and an acceleration lane will be added to 280 beginning at Cherokee Road. A right turn lane will also be added from South Cherokee.

5. Birmingham Water Works: Existing median opening will be closed.

5a. Overton Road: An additional lane will be built and signal added to protect left turns and U-turns. Eastbound 280 will not stop at signal. Existing left turn storage to be lengthened.

5b. Rocky Ridge Road: Intersection will be widened to accommodate a triple-left turn onto U.S. 280. A dual left turn will also be added from 280. Florida Short Route will be converted into a cul-de-sac, and a right-turn lane will be added to Shades Crest Road.

6. Green Valley Road / Whole Foods: Signal to remain, but left turns from side street will be directed to a median acceleration lane to merge. Eastbound 280 traffic will not stop.

7. Brookwood Green Trace West: Concrete channel installed at median opening to improve safety.

8. Cahaba River Road / Dolly Ridge Road: Triple left turn installed from side street onto 280.

9. Chevron median crossing: Left turn onto 280 prohibited.

10. Summit Blvd.: Direct travel across intersection now requires taking right turns then U-turns. Channelization installed on Summit Blvd. to improve inbound right turn flow.

11. Perimeter Park North: Signal removed and relocated to Perimeter Park South. Concrete median constructed.

12. Perimeter Park South: Signal installed. Left turns from side street channelized to a median acceleration lane to merge. Westbound traffic will not stop.

13. Grandview Parkway: Signal to remain. Direct travel across intersection now requires taking right turns then U-turns. Dual left turns from side streets. Additional left turn / U-turn lane added to westbound 280.

14. Cahaba Road / Fire station: Signal converted to emergency-only.

15. Riverview Road: Additional left turn lane added to westbound 280.

16. Cahaba Park Circle (West): Converted to a right in/out only. Traffic from north side of 280 to use Cahaba Park Circle East intersection via frontage road. Westbound 280 left turns to use Cahaba Park Circle West. Right turn lade to be added to westbound Old 280. Dual left turns added from Target access.

17. Cahaba Park Circle (East): Signal to remain. Northbound Key Drive converted to right in/out only. Traffic from the north side of 280 to use the Cahaba Park Circle East intersection via frontage road. Eastbound 280 left turns to use Cahaba Park Circle East. Dual left turn lanes added from Cahaba Park Circle East.

18. Resource Center Parkway: Signal to be removed. Direct travel across intersection now requires taking right turns then U-turns. Directional left turns from westbound 280 permitted.

19. Inverness Parkway: Signal to remain. Direct travel across intersection now requires taking right turns then U-turns. Northbound Inverness Parkway traffic converted to triple left turn, and southbound converted to dual left turn.

20. Inverness Center Drive / Greenhill Parkway: Signal to remain. Direct travel across intersection now requires taking right turns then U-turns. Additional left turn / U-turn lane added to eastbound and westbound 280. Northbound Inverness Center Drive converted to dual left turn.

21. Valleydale Road / Cahaba Beach Road: Left turns from 280 redirected to signalized dual U-turns past the intersection. Concrete widened at U-turn sites to accommodate truck traffic. Southbound Cahaba Beach Road converted to dual left turn.

22. Meadow Brook Drive / Brook Highland Parkway: Existing eastbound 280 left turn lanes extended for additional storage. Northbound right turn lane added to Meadow Brook Road.

23. Corporate Parkway: Signal to remain. Direct travel across intersection now requires taking right turns then U-turns. Second left turn lane added to westbound 280.

24. Meadowlark Drive: Extend grass medians to limit access points from business parking lots connected to highway. Install concrete island in median to eliminate left turns from both side streets to U.S. 280.

25. Raceway / Walmart: Excessive accesses closed.

26. Hugh Daniel Drive: Signal to remain. Direct travel across intersection now requires taking right turns then U-turns.