A view east, towards the Bryant Bridge and Black Warrior River. The Coral Industries freight shipping yard on Rice Mine Road seems to stand directly in the path of the Eastern Bypass as one looks west from the "fourth bridge".
I asked the workers piling out of pickups the morning I took this picture if they were tearing down the buildings to make room for the highway coming through. One of them told me they "were just giving the highway something else to do."
The whole thing's a mystery to me. I trust in the system to do big things and admittedly have gotten no closer to a city council meeting than the public service channel on cable. A half-dozen possible routes were proposed, surveyed (or surveys were forged, in some cases) and studies were presented. Meetings were held, complaints heard and then heard again, and a route apparently has been mapped out.
Every length of the Bypass has its battles, those who do not want to move, legal cases regarding favoritism and buyouts as well as environmental concerns (the "m-bend" of Hurricane Creek in particular), but construction continues. And apparently will, as long as Alabama returns Senator Richard Shelby to Washington. His next challenge isn't until 2010... By that time residents of west Alabama north and west of the Black Warrior should have their McFarland/US 82 bypass in place. |
