Plans for new pedestrian access near Vulcan shown to public

A plan by the city of Birmingham to create safe access for runners, cyclists and pedestrians on Richard Arrington Jr. Blvd. at the crest of Red Mountain near Vulcan Park & Museum could create “a vital link” between Five Points South and Homewood, according to Michael Kaczorowski, a principal planner at the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham.

“Right now, there’s not a comfortable way for walkers or cyclists to walk from one side of the mountain to the other, so this would help provide that,” he said.

Kaczorowski presented two versions of a plan to create pedestrian access on Arrington Blvd. between 15th Avenue South and Valley Avenue during a public meeting held at Vulcan on Thursday, Jan. 18.

About 75 area residents attended the meeting, where they were able to study large, color maps showing two preliminary alternatives developed by engineers and provide feedback to planners.

In one version, a 14-foot-wide multi-use pathway for runners, cyclists and pedestrians would be built along the west side of Arrington next to Vulcan Park.

In the other alternative, a six-foot-wide sidewalk and a painted bike lane would be added, also along the west side of the road.

Those bike lanes would be similar to those currently in use on Second and Seventh avenues south in Birmingham, according to Kaczorowski.

Under both plans, a section of Arrington Blvd. would go from four traveling lanes for vehicles to two.

However, Kaczorowski said the current lanes, which are only nine feet wide, are too narrow, and that Arrington “does not really function like a four-lane.”

The new single lanes would be 12 feet wide, and a center turn lane would be added, he said.

“The only way to accommodate pedestrians is to lose a lane, but again you’re talking about four very narrow lanes,” Kaczorowski said. 

Kaczorowski also said that Arrington Blvd. will still fan back out to four lanes at either end of the new project.

For example, heading into Homewood, Arrington would fan back out to four lanes before drivers reach the busy intersection at Valley Avenue, according to Kaczorowski.

The city of Birmingham will also need to have a formal traffic engineering analysis done, according to Kaczorowski.

Homewood City Engineer Greg Cobb, who attended the public meeting, said the plan would not create “anything negative” for Homewood from a traffic standpoint.

“It’s a well-thought-out plan, either option is,” Cobb said.

Cobb said he agrees the plan would improve pedestrian access along the west side of Arrington.

“It’s (currently) hard to walk or too dangerous to walk, so I think the pedestrians and the bicyclists would really appreciate it,” he said.

The new pedestrian access would also link to the Vulcan Trail, which is currently being extended all the way to Green Springs Highway, Kaczorowski said.

Either version of the project would likely cost about $2 million or $2.5 million, according to Kaczorowski.

The city of Birmingham asked the RPCGB to partner on the engineering study, which was carried out by engineering firms Sarcor and EDT, according to Kaczorowski.

The study cost about $60,000, but the city only had to pay about $12,000, with the rest funded by federal monies managed by the RPCGB, Kaczorowski said.

There are also some federal funds available that could help pay for the pedestrian project, according to Kaczorowski.

“If the city decides to move forward, this would go into a design phase, which could take about a year, and then construction may be two or three years off,” he said.

Valerie Abbott, Birmingham City Council President, attended the meeting and said she’s “excited” about the plans and the prospect of providing safe access for cyclists and pedestrians on busy Arrington Blvd.

“I talk to people who bicycle every day, and to me that is almost a death wish right now, so I know they are excited,” Abbott said.

She said she would likely prefer that the city adopt whichever alternative is safer, perhaps the option with the multi-use pathway separated completely from traffic lanes.

“I think having a little separation is good,” she said

Abbott said that the plans for the project, after engineers have time to make tweaks or changes, would need to be approved by the city’s engineering and law departments.

Then the plan would likely go before one of the city council’s committees, according to Abbott.

Ginny Brown, a Irondale resident, attended the meeting and said that she is part of a hiking group and several biking groups and that “there is a lot of interest in opening up that route between Birmingham and Homewood and making it a lot safer.”

Her hiking group meets on Wednesday and crosses Red Mountain near Vulcan, according to Brown. “It’s very hazardous to do that,” she said.

Danny Jones, Five Points South Neighborhood Association president, said that he generally liked the idea of providing pedestrian access and bike access.

“But I have misgivings about the traffic at rush hour which is already backed down into Southside or into Five Points at afternoon rush hour,” Jones said. “It seems like it could make it worse, not better.”

Stephen Foster, Five Points South Neighborhood Association vice president, said that he liked the plans that the RPCGB had presented.

“I do think the wider (multi-use) pathway is the best way to go, not with the painted bike lanes,” he said.

Foster said his “biggest reservation” about the project is his concern that the city is perhaps not trying to properly tie it into Five Points South.

He cited the need to take into account the master plan and parking study for Five Points South and plans for the entire corridor from Five Points to Linn Park.