Road & Sewers
TRANSPORTATION PROJECTS – THE NORTHERN BELTLINE:
CRS has offered our assistance to ALDOT over the past several years to determine the best way to invest in transportation improvements for regional growth that will also conserve our water resources and drinking water supply. We think it has been premature to fast-track those sections of the Northern Beltline east of I-65 that were included in the State Transportation Improvement Plan for right of way acquisition and other projects within the next four years. Instead, ALDOT should conduct adequate and meaningful environmental review, incorporate highway design to conserve water resources, and provide a full evaluation of the best way to invest limited resources to promote growth that will equitably benefit the region.
CRS recognizes that the communities of our watershed and the larger metro area desire the benefits of growth. CRS supports economic growth in the region that is environmentally sound, equitable, and cost efficient.
The Environmental Protection Agency stated during the initial environmental review process of the Northern Beltline that the route chosen in these segments was the most environmentally damaging of the potential routes. The initial environmental review documents are outdated and did not consider essential factors, such as impact to our drinking water source, or the cumulative or indirect (development-inducing) impacts of the Beltline. In addition, the Cahaba’s water quality and quantity conditions have worsened in that time in part due to growth that has occurred without special design methods to conserve water resources. ALDOT has not yet completed federally required environmental studies for the Northern Beltline, yet the agency appears to be making substantive decisions to move forward with road design and land acquisition as if the outcome of the studies will not matter. The federal environmental review process does not allow this.
Thus it is critically important to take the time to complete full environmental studies, which should provide new information, and allow public review and involvement in those studies, to determine the best way to proceed and also conserve the Cahaba River.