October 9th, 2009
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October 09, 2009, 7:15AM
Traffic on Interstate 565 near Research Park BoulevardHUNTSVILLE, AL – Several people asked Thursday why there were several white vans from the state Department of Transportation at the Interstate 565 and Research Park Boulevard interchange.
No radar guns were hidden in the vans to catch speeders, as some people speculated.
Big brother was not watching, unless you count counting cars to determine future planning and repaving needs.
The DOT was conducting routine traffic counts for the interchange, said Johnny Harris, division engineer for Division 1 of the DOT.
“We try to keep up with how many vehicles are on our system on an average day,” Harris said.
The DOT records traffic volumes on state and federal highways for capacity studies to determine if a highway is built to handle the amount of traffic on it in an average day. That helps the DOT in planning for future highways or expansion of the highway being studied.
The traffic counts help the DOT to know when a highway might need to be repaved and can help engineers figure out the thickness of the asphalt needed and the type of asphalt mix needed for the amount of traffic using the highway.
I-65, Tanner interchange opens
The new Interstate 65 interchange at Huntsville-Brownsferry Road opened to traffic Thursday.
Work started more than a year ago on the new interchange, which is the only interchange between Interstate 565 and U.S. 72 in Athens.
The state DOT awarded Carcel & G Construction of Cullman a contract of almost $5.8 million to build the “diamond” patterned interchange.
The company had been waiting for more than two weeks for the exit signs to arrive to finish the project.
Along with building the entrance and exit ramps, the project involved widening Huntsville-Brownsferry Road to three lanes for a short distance on each side of I-65. The middle lane is a turn lane to the interstate’s ramps.
The bridge height on Huntsville-Brownsferry Road over I-65 was also raised a few feet.
Green Mountain fog lines
Norma Oberllies asked by e-mail when “fog lines” would be painted on some roads on the north end of Green Mountain.
A fog line is a solid line, usually white, on the right edge of the pavement.
Oberllies wanted to know when fog lines will be painted on Mountcrest Road, Green Oakes Circle and Carr Lane.
“New fog lines were painted nearby,” Oberllies said, “and when I questioned the workers they indicated they thought these streets were in the county.”
Oberllies said she called the city street department about the lines several times, but nothing has been done.
The Huntsville city street guide lists Mountcrest and Green Oakes as city streets, but lists Carr Lane as a private drive.
Dennis Thompson, a traffic engineer in the city Traffic Engineering Division, said the two city streets are the department’s list of streets to be striped.
He said the striping should be done in the next two weeks, if the weather co-operates.
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