Tag Archives: route

BJCTA hosts public forum on proposed circulator, routes on June 10

newmallbusThis evening the BJCTA will be hosting a public meeting this evening from 5:30 – 7 p.m. downtown at the Alagasco Center for Energy Technology  (20 20th Street South). The focus of the forum will be on taking a fresh look at the development of a downtown circulator route (similar to systems operating in cities like Washington, DC and Nashville, TN).

Odds are if you’re reading this at home on Tuesday evening and not at your desk at work before heading out the door, you’ll probably not be able to attend. (They were also originally asking folks to RSVP – as covered in this piece on AL.com last week – but the folks at Clarus Consulting Group will most likely not turn you away at the door.) If you find yourself still wanting to share your thoughts with our local transit officials, don’t worry — there’s an online survey available for you to use.

This year, we bike FROM work!

Bike From Work 2012 RouteIt stands to reason that you’ll still have to bike TO work in order to participate in this year’s Bike from Work Day being organized by the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham (RPCGB) and the CommuteSmart initiative. It’s the ninth year that an event has been held though it’s the first time it’ll take place in the evening.

This year’s ride will once again start at the parking lot adjacent to the Young and Vann Building on 1st Ave. N. & 18th St. N. (home to both the RPCGB & CommuteSmart) but it will start at 5:30 p.m. If you want to take a closer look at this year’s route, click on the map to view the PDF or you can always download it from the page on CommuteSmart’s website that hosts additional information about the event.

It’s supposed to be a pretty comfortable day tomorrow (current forecast calls for a high of 77° and a low of 53° when we last checked – perfect cycling weather), so you may want to consider taking part if at all possible.

Meetings to discuss BJCTA service changes continue

BJCTA February 2012 meetingApproximately a dozen regular users of the BJCTA gathered in the transit authority’s board room at Central Station on Friday evening to learn more about proposed service changes.

It was the second of four meetings scheduled through the middle of this week to go over the changes and to receive additional public input. The last two meetings will take place February 21 at the Hawkins Park Recreation Center (8920 Roebuck Blvd., Birmingham – map) from 5:30-7 p.m. and February 22 at the Bessemer Public Library (400 19th St., N., Bessemer – map) from 10-11:30 a.m. The changes will then be voted upon by the transit authority’s board on the afternoon of the 22nd.

Proposed changes (PDF) include: the renumbering and combining of Route 1 (as Routes 10 and 11); the simplification of Route 20 (essentially creating an airport shuttle that runs hourly along Messer Airport Highway, including Saturdays); modifications to Routes 17, 25, 26, 28 44, and 45 that will enable them to stop directly in front of Walmarts located on their routes; and a change in DART service that will provide service up to Vulcan Park.

That abbreviated list of the proposed changes is probably making you want to read about the rest of them as described on the detailed attachment handed out at the meeting, isn’t it? We’ve also got photos of the maps showing the proposed changes in the downtown, western, and eastern sections of the county.

Ruben’s marathon is set for November

When city leaders gathered back in January to celebrate the official groundbreaking of The Marketplace adjacent to the BJCC complex, Ruben Studdard was on hand to announce plans for a new marathon and fitness event to be held in Birmingham. Those in attendance were told that details would be revealed later on this year – and they finally got some yesterday with the launch of the event’s official website.

The Ruben Studdard Celebration Weekend is scheduled for Sunday, November 20 and it will benefit the Ruben Studdard Foundation. The marathon will begin and end at Linn Park, taking participants along a single-loop route that keeps participants within the city limits the entire time. The original press release had suggested that the start and end points for the race would be Railroad Park.

The weekend is also scheduled to include a half-marathon, 5K and a gala event. Registration for all of the events are currently open.

This increases the number of marathons held in metro Birmingham to two a year, with the 2012 Mercedes Marathon scheduled for February 10-12. If the organizers of the Weekend are successful, the city will also have two local opportunities to qualify for the Boston Marathon.

The downtown circulator and Birmingham’s future

In case you couldn’t make it to this morning’s ONB breakfast briefing to check out the presentation made by the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham about the possible new bus circulator service, we thought we’d bring the video to you:

For additional information, you’ll want to visit the In Town Transit Partnership’s website.

Honoring our servicemen today

A reminder that Birmingham hosts the nation’s largest and oldest Veteran’s Day Parade this afternoon (Tuesday) in the city center. It will begin at 1:30 p.m.

We don’t have a pretty graphic showing you the route, but John Morse has created a parade route map for you with Google Maps and the official parade (and celebration) website has turn for turn directions for you to check out. Thanks to all of our armed forces, past and present, for all that they do.