As the city of Birmingham remembers the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Movement, the state of Alabama is in the midst of reenacting the 1960s with two antiquated engineering projects.

Successful communities preserve rural areas and maximize urban areas. Yet, the Alabama Department of Transportation is intent on ruining both.

will create more resource-inefficient sprawl, and

would further the damage done by a downtown-dividing interstate.

Both projects will diminish the city of Birmingham's standing in the region, but the I-20/59 project will directly affect its urban makeup.

The interstate separates the city center (on the left) from the entertainment district (on the right).

ALDOT and lead-consultant Volkert began by creating a messy diagram that shows the plan to replace the aging interstate deck with another interstate deck. The plan also includes widening the deck and removing downtown access points for the sake of "efficiency."

These traffic engineers, and thereby the state, fail to understand the importance of this project. Birmingham is one of only a few major cities without a major river, so it has to create scenic venues wherever it can. Rebuilding an even larger eyesore that blights surrounding properties does not help.

The State's Interest in Downtown Birmingham

ALDOT is concerned about traffic flow, and the state is understandably concerned about costs. However, they must realize that building a structure that maximizes the urban fabric of Birmingham offers the highest return on investment.

Former mayor of Milwaukee John Norquist writes that the density and other urban features of "cities provide a setting that naturally generates wealth."

By replacing this interstate segment with a more urban-friendly structure, ALDOT and the state could create an environment more attractive to the conventions, concerts, and sporting events sought by the city's entertainment district. Newly attracted events would spawn new businesses and residents, and the city of Birmingham would become more of a state gem.

Birmingham leaders have been awfully quiet, but they should be out in front of the issue explaining why the rest of the state should invest in the city.

As mentioned already, the return on investment for an urban area is high.

The younger generation within Alabama will follow

The current replacement plan fails Norquist's "Postcard Test." If a structure can't be put on a postcard, why build it in the first place?

An Unreliable Consulting Firm

As for congestion, no matter how many lanes the interstate has or how well designed its access ramps are, congestion is bound to occur in areas where suburban sprawl dominates. Birmingham's built environment handcuffs residents to vehicles and fills monstrosities such as "Malfunction Junction." Better engineering and design techniques could likely improve this intersection, but they would certainly not solve the problem alone.

I don't have the expertise to advocate for the proposal to submerge I-20/59 or to reroute it north of downtown, but I will advocate against a plan that uses Bing maps and MS Paint to visualise its location.

Lead-consultant Volkert simply hasn't demonstrated that it has the desire to develop a publicly supported project. The firm's state ties are obvious in its leadership, its dubious history includes a $9 million lawsuit in Mobile, and its has shown no capability of improving since its website hasn't changed since winning a marketing award in 2001.

The Future of Birmingham

Skeptics viewed Railroad Park during construction as an expensive waste of money in a downtrodden area. Now it has attracted the Birmingham Baron's Regions Park and is fueling Southside's growth.

Railroad Park has helped downtown catch up to other major cities. A innovative approach to I-20/59 could thrust downtown Birmingham past other revitalizing cities.

The state, whether it likes to admit it or not, has an interest in Birmingham. It anchors the state's largest metropolitan area and has the greatest potential to drive the job growth that Governor Bentley keeps calling for.