HUNTSVILLE, Alabama - The Alabama Department of Transportation has postponed the start of 13 major Huntsville road projects, including long-planned Memorial Parkway overpasses at Lily Flagg and Byrd Spring roads.

Huntsville Director of Urban Development Shane Davis said DOT Director John Cooper delivered the bad news in person to Mayor Tommy Battle last Friday. Cooper blamed the delay on a decline in state gasoline tax revenues, said Davis.

"It's a bit frustrating when you think you have your road plan in place, and all of a sudden it's changed," Battle said Friday. "We've asked our legislators to step forward and help us through this process."

Battle said the city plans to impress upon Cooper and Gov. Robert Bentley that better roads -- particularly the Parkway overpasses and extending the limited-access portion of Interstate 565 -- are "necessities for us."

"Some of these other major road projects may have to slip, but those two are real priorities."

DOT's decision affects more than $200 million in planned traffic improvements in the Rocket City, including:

* Elevating Memorial Parkway from north of Martin Road to south of Lily Flagg Road, including new service lanes and underpasses at Martin, Lily Flagg and Byrd Spring Road. Estimated cost: $56 million. Construction of the service roads was pushed back from 2015-2019; raising that stretch of the Parkway slipped from 2016-2020.

* Extending the limited-access portion of Interstate 565 past Moores Mill and Shields roads, with overpasses at both intersections. Estimated cost: $91 million. Right-of-way acquisition, originally slated for this year, has been postponed until 2023. Work on the service roads would begin in 2024; the overpasses won't get under way until 2026.

* Six-laning I-565 between Interstate 65 and Greenbrier Road. Estimated cost: $21.5 million. Delayed from 2014-2020.

* Six-laning I-565 between Greenbrier Road and County Line Road. Estimated cost: $25 million. Delayed from 2015-2019.

* Six-laning I-565 between County Line Road and Wall-Triana Highway. Estimated cost: 23.4 million. Delayed from 2015-2025.

* Widening South Memorial Parkway between Hobbs Island Road and the Tennessee River bridge. Estimated cost: $5.7 million. Delayed from 2016-2024.

* Four-laning Alabama 53 from Harvest Road north to Old Railroad Bed road. Estimated cost: $15 million. Delayed from 2017-2024.

* Four-laning Alabama 53 from Old Railroad Bed Road north to Pinedale Road in Limestone County. Estimated cost: $42 million. Delayed from 2020-2027.

* Four-laning Alabama 53 from Pinedale Road through the town of Ardmore to Interstate 65. Estimated cost: $56 million. Delayed from 2017-2025.

* Widening Hobbs Island Road from Memorial Parkway to Parsons Drive. Estimated cost $4 million. Delayed from 2018-26.

* Resurfacing U.S. 72 East from Moores Mill Road to east of Dug Hill Road. Estimated cost: $12.4 million. Delayed from 2017-24.

* Blake Bottom Road overpass on Research Park Boulevard. Estimated cost: $7 million. Delayed from 2013-2018.

Huntsville Director of Urban Development Shane Davis. (Huntsville Times file photo)

If DOT holds to the revised schedule, Davis said children in kindergarten today will be in college before many of the upgrades are finished. He said improved traffic flow is key to Huntsville's continued prosperity.

"We've got almost two dozen economic development projects we're working on, from 10 or 15 jobs to thousands of jobs," Davis said Thursday evening. "Moving people in and out of those jobs is critical not only for the city but for the state. "

At Thursday's City Council meeting, Councilman Bill Kling said state transportation officials are "killing the goose that laid the golden egg" by holding up Huntsville road projects. "Don't they realize we're the fastest-growing metropolitan area?"

Davis said Cooper told the mayor that state gasoline tax collections are falling as a result of more fuel-efficient vehicles and people driving less because of high prices at the pump.

Battle said waiting until 2020 to start the Lily Flagg and Byrd Spring overpasses, combined with previous road work, means that stretch of South Parkway will have been under construction for about 15 years. "It means your retail corridors are going to suffer that much longer," he said.

The updated DOT plan does not even mention North Parkway overpasses at Mastin Lake and Winchester roads that have been on the drawing board for years, said Battle.

Updated at 11:16 a.m. with comments from Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle.

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