Huntsville ends 2019 with a lot going on. New jobs are coming by the thousands, roads are clogged with commuter traffic and new restaurants and stores seem to open daily. But 2020 promises to be just as big if not bigger. Here’s a look at some of the developments we’ll be watching closely next year. Rest assured, we’ll be watching new things not even imagined here.

Pascale Ehrenfreund, incoming president of the International Astronomical Federation, shares a stage with Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos at the federation's symposium in Washinton, D.C. on Oct. 22, 2019. Blue Origin has announced it will lead a team to compete for the job building landers for America's return to the Moon.

1. Space Command/Blue Origin

America has a new military command to lead the nation’s military in space, the new “warfighting domain” that grows in importance with each communications or global positioning satellite placed in orbit. It’s not the Space Force, a separate entity, but the Space Command, an actual warfighting command should fighting in space become a reality. The command was “stood up” (became official) in 2019, and the big question for Alabama is where its headquarters will be located. Huntsville is one of the finalists for the headquarters, along with sites in Colorado and California, and winning would be another boost to any area’s economy. Will Huntsville win? Everyone will know sometime in early 2020.

Also coming in 2020, Blue Origin, the rocket company owned by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, will open a new rocket engine plant in Huntsville. The new plant will join new rocket engine manufacturing by Aeroject Rocketdyne. And Blue has put together a team of legacy space companies team to build NASA the landing system to put American astronauts back on Moon in 2024. Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman are on the team, and both have big operations in Huntsville.

2. Municipal election

Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle speaks to the audience at a City Council meeting on Oct. 24, 2019.

2020 is an election year with Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle on the ballot for a fourth, four-year term. He has no opposition so far, and it’s far from clear he’ll pick up any serious challengers before voters go to the polls in July. Battle gets a lot of credit for Huntsville’s success recruiting new industries and revitalizing its growing downtown. He’s also a strong supporter of an ambitious plan to make over Huntsville’s west side into a modern mix of residential and commercial areas called Mill Creek, and he’s led major civic projects like the new amphitheater planned for the MidCity complex. If he wins, Battle will become the city’s longest-serving mayor.

3. Mars Music Hall

An artist's rendering of Von Braun Center's new venue, Mars Music Hall, and restaurant/rooftop bar, Rhythm on Monroe. (Courtesy VBC)

When this new mid-sized concert venue opens Jan. 3 at the Von Braun Center in downtown Huntsville, it will fill a gap in the city’s music scene. The Mars Music Hall, as it is called, will hold 1,575 people. That’s a number Von Braun Center leaders think will be a sweet spot not available in the city now. It will be perfect for rising talent not ready to fill arenas or the larger Concert Hall, but with talent and success beyond the level of clubs and smaller halls. The first artist to perform there - singer-songwriter and guitarist Jason Isbell - is a perfect example. His show sold out within hours.

4. Trash Pandas play ball

"Sprocket," unveiled Nov. 22, 2019, as the mascot of the Rocket City Trash Pandas, already has some fans.

The Trash Pandas minor league baseball team will take the field April 15, 2020 against the Mississippi Braves, and the team is expected to draw large crowds as it brings professional baseball back to the Huntsville area. The Pandas will play in a new stadium rising now in the Town Madison development on I-565, and it promises a family environment, professional young players and already-popular mascot named Sprocket. Season ticket sales have been strong, and many people expect the stadium to be the place to be next spring and summer.

5. I-565 widening

I-565 is a daily bottleneck during rush hour between Madison and I-65. Gov. Kay Ivey announced plans April 17, 2019, to widen the highway to three lanes in each direction.

Widening of Interstate 565 in Limestone County is scheduled to begin in spring or summer of 2020. The interstate will be widened from four lanes to six beginning near County Line Road in Limestone County and stretching about 7 miles to the west to meet I-65. It will happen without the acquisition of new property by building new lanes on what are now the highway’s shoulders. That was a design feature of the interstate from the start and an example of government doing the long-term thinking before it starts the original project. The widening is one way Madison County hopes to keep growing commuter traffic from Limestone, Morgan and Cullman counties moving smoothly to Redstone Arsenal.

6. Redstone Arsenal growth

Redstone Arsenal Gate 9

Speaking of Redstone Arsenal, the place is booming. The arsenal started as an Army post and munitions factory in World War II and grew into a missile and space complex with the creation of NASA and transfer of several key military commands. It is now called a “federal city of excellence” with 40,000-plus workers reporting every workday to more than 60 commands and organizations located behind the arsenal gates. The latest agency to make a dramatic impact is the FBI, which is building what its leaders call “HQ2” on the arsenal. The arsenal is expected to keep growing and keep trying new things like some version of the vehicle E-Z Pass to keep those thousands of commuters moving. It is also planning to turn over more than 100 acres of land near Gate 9 to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center for outdoor activities.

7. William Darby trial

Huntsville police officer William Darby shown in a Madison County courtroom for a hearing on April 3, 2019. Darby is charged with murder.

Huntsville police officer William “Ben” Darby is expected to go on trial for the April 3, 2018 fatal shooting of 49-year-old Jeffrey Parker. While a firm date hasn’t been announced, the murder trial is currently slated for February 2020.

Parker reported that he was armed and suicidal when he called police to his west Huntsville home on the day of the shooting. At a previous court hearing, Darby testified that he acted in defense of himself and other officers when he killed Parker. But the courts have declined to grant Darby immunity from prosecution under Alabama’s self-defense law. A fellow officer has testified against Darby.

Mayor Tommy Battle and Chief Mark McMurray have defended Darby, who remains on the police force. The city is paying for his defense. If convicted, he could face up to life in prison.

8. Hotels, hotels, hotels

A dilapidated but nearly 100 year old building was demolished in downtown Huntsville, Ala, on Monday, Feb. 4, 2019 to make way for a new Curio by Hilton hotel.

People have been joking in that funny-not funny way that downtown Huntsville’s symbol for 2020 will be the orange construction cone. Four new hotels will be in under construction downtown by the end of next year. Two major parking garage projects will add to the work: one to modify the garage across Monroe Street from the Von Braun Center to accommodate a hotel and construction of a new garage on the parking lot of the Old Times Building on Holmes Ave. Add another new apartment complex near Big Spring Park and work on the Constellation development on Clinton Avenue near Memorial Parkway and it’s clear. Next year’s top Halloween costume in Huntsville may be Orange Conehead.

9. The 2020 census

The U.S. Census Bureau is conducting a test run in Rhode Island of the 2020 national headcount, trying to identify potential kinks in the system. (Michelle R. Smith, Associated Press)

Huntsville has already passed Montgomery as Alabama’s second-largest city. The attention in next year’s census will be focused largely on the larger metropolitan area including the city and its closest neighbors such as Madison. Metropolitan statistical areas are used by national businesses to make decisions on locating in certain areas, by real estate developers to decide where to make investments, and by infrastructure planners to determine where roads and road improvements need to be made first, among other things.

10. More growth

With huge job growth and continued low interest rates, homes in Huntsville are selling fast. (Deborah Storey, for AL.com)

The census will prove what anyone who drives Huntsville roads or eats in Huntsville restaurants already knows: There are more people than ever sharing life in the city. Those numbers affect everything from how fast traffic moves on Memorial Parkway to how hard it is to find a parking place, a physician or a seat at your favorite burger bar. The housing market will continue to boom and home prices will climb until supply meets demand. It’s an exciting time, but growth like this also creates interesting alternate realities. Traffic that seems dangerously fast to someone who’s lived in the city a few years seems laughably light and slow to someone who just moved from Washington, Denver or California.