Andy Sullivan

PALMERDALE (Ala.) – A gravel road cuts through a number of high ridges north of Birmingham. It is part of a stalled attempt to build a freeway that would run 52 miles around Alabama’s biggest city.

Five years ago, construction was stopped on the road, known as the Birmingham Northern Beltline. Federal funding had run out. Critics call the project “dinosaur”, “zombie”, and “black hole”. It has only been built a quarter mile, but Alabama officials aren’t willing to spend the billions required for its completion.

The U.S. taxpayers have made it possible for the bulldozers to move again. A massive infrastructure package, which Congress passed in November, includes at least $369 million of federal funding for Alabama’s Beltline. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a $1 trillion agreement, allowed Democratic President Joe Biden fulfill his campaign promise to repair the nation’s failing bridges and roads.

The victory is also significant for Richard Shelby, Alabama’s senior U.S. Senate senator. Shelby has been a Republican for many decades and worked hard to secure Washington dollars for Beltline. Shelby opposed Biden’s infrastructure bill, saying that it should have been expanded to include military projects. All funding will be provided for the Beltline.

Shelby refused to comment on this story.

Others who support the Beltline view the federal funding as money owed Alabama by Democratic President Lyndon Johnson’s 1960s War on Poverty that promised to aid the poor in the Appalachian Mountains. Blue-collar exurbs are found at the southern extremity of that range, as well as rural hamlets just north of Birmingham.

Ron Kitchens, the chief executive officer at the Birmingham Business Alliance (an economic development group), stated, “This is the continuation a promise was made.”

Oponents of Beltline are angry that the Beltline is being revived by a flood of cash. This project was once considered to be of low priority even by local planners. Biden’s green agenda would be shattered if the Beltline encouraged sprawl and threatened wild areas, according to environmentalists.

Nelson Brooke, of Black Warrior Riverkeeper (a local environmental organization), said that “it’s a dinosaur of a porc barrel project.” “It’s a great example of what should never be happening with this amount of money.”

Biden’s administration will write the check but has very little influence over Alabama’s project. Nancy Singer, spokesperson for Federal Highway Administration said that “it is up to the state departments of transport to decide to move projects forward.”

PHANTOM FREEWAY

Biden’s infrastructure plan doesn’t include just the Beltline. While many Democrats dislike the fact that it favours transit over freeways, some Republicans see it as an inefficient grab bag of Democratic priorities.

Shelby, a Birmingham native and a Congressman since 1979 might have stopped Alabama from building its phantom-freeway. Because of his skills in steering federal funds to Alabama’s 46th-ranked state, Shelby’s name is prominently displayed on government buildings across the state.

Around the 20th century Shelby, along with members of Alabama’s congressional delegation, secured funding for the Beltline via “earmarking,” which was a process in the budget that allowed the highway to be given dedicated funding and not have to compete against other projects.

The real breakthrough was made in 2003 when Shelby added the Beltline to the Appalachian Development Highway System. This road system is designed to reduce isolation in mountainous regions stretching from north Alabama to west New York. Since the network was nearly complete, Shelby made sure that Alabama got a bigger share of all dollars that were going to it.

A series of scandals involving corruption prompted federal legislators to take action against what they considered wasteful spending in the country. In 2010, Congress prohibited earmarks. It was banned in 2010 by Congress.

These funding streams were cut and the Beltline needed to find money from its own resources. The Birmingham Metropolitan Planning Organization (a regional government body) did not consider the need for the highway urgent. According to a 2010 study, the Beltline was ranked 36th among 54 transport proposals. This means that it will not help with traffic congestion.

The Beltline supporters claim the road will help thinly populated north exurbs attract the types of shopping malls that would support housing development and other amenities. This is a possibility according to some Beltline advocates. The Beltline’s completion would only increase the population of nearby communities by 1.5%, according to the Alabama Department of Transportation.

In 2011, environmental groups sued unsuccessfully against the Beltline project to block it. They claimed that the Beltline would cause harm to wildlife such as the vermilion darter fish which can be found only in this area. It would run across 125 streams, and construction crews will have to remove more than 4000 acres (1 619 hectares).

However, local politicians and business organizations continued to support the project. Federal Highway Administration data indicated that the project would cost $5.4 Billion per mile. However, later estimates showed it to be less expensive. It would have to be completed in 40 years, according to state officials.

The federal funding ran out two years later and construction was stopped. A 1.3-mile (2.2 km) section of partially constructed roadway cost $162 million.

The majority of U.S. highways were built using a combination of state and federal money. Alabama, however, chose to not tap into state funds for the Beltline. Instead it focuses on maintaining roads and increasing capacity. Since then, no work has been completed.

Sarah Stokes from the Southern Environmental Law Center said that people are sick of pouring money into black holes.

A recent Wednesday afternoon found signs of decay at the Palmerdale construction site. This hamlet, home to 5,400 people, is located 17 miles (27km) northeast of Birmingham. A concrete wall at the summit of the ridge was the result of rainstorms that had created gullies in the gravel roadbed. The site was littered with tire tracks, garbage and an unexploded tin can.

BACK ON TRACK

Washington is a place where patience and seniority pay off. Shelby was the head of the influential Senate committee responsible for spending and got the funding renewed in 2019 for the Appalachian Highway Network.

Next came the bipartisan infrastructure bill. Appalachian lawmakers, headed by Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, West Virginia, added $1.25 Billion for the highway system to the agreement. The largest part of the deal is expected to go to Alabama, which will receive $369 million.

There will be more. Appalachian Regional Commission is a government entity that estimated in 2017 that $3.1B would be required to complete the Beltline. The state also stated in 2019, that just one-third will need to be done by 2045. According to experts, such estimates are subject to change due low interest rates, labor costs and other factors.

Alabama has no plans to invest its own money in the project, as it did before. This is according to budget experts.

Steve Ellis, President of Taxpayers for Common Sense in Washington, said, “It is not that critical of a Project.” Without it, the state and local interests could have funded this.”

Officials from Birmingham say that they have been in discussions with the state and local governments about contributing. Stan Hogeland is the mayor of Gardendale. Gardendale has 16,000 inhabitants and lies along the Beltline. He believes that the Beltline could help speed up commute times as well as attract auto manufacturers to the state.

Hogeland stated, “I wish it hurries and gets through.”

Some see it simply as another highway that will divert investment from Black-majority areas like Birmingham.

Anna Brown is an activist and sits on the advisory board of the planning commission. She said that it was better to return the money to Washington.

Brown stated that federal funds are not always free. It doesn’t necessarily mean that it will be useful just because it is free.

(THIS version corrects the name and year of the public agency that evaluated the project. Paragraph 16).