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The 7th biggest boondoggle in the U.S. is Birmingham's Northern Beltline

By John Archibald | jarchibald@al.com AL.com /gallery-preview Aka Secondary Package

/storypackage Birmingham, AL

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Even the bankers think it's a bunch of baloney.

The Northern Beltline, that is. That $5.4 billion road around Birmingham. That $104 million-a-mile highway to hardly anywhere. That six-lane roadway designed to keep people from ever having to see the Magic City.

The website gobankingrates.com has named Alabama's Northern Beltline as the 7th biggest boondoggle in the U.S. It is, according to the site, one of the worst of the worst building projects. It is one of those endeavors in which costs swamp budgets, where return on investment is iffy at best.

The Northern Beltline – the darling of the Birmingham Business Alliance and everybody else who hopes to profit from federally funded suburban sprawl -- is a bigger boondoggle than Alaska's infamous $81.5 million 'Road to Nowhere,' which came in at No. 19.

At $60,000 a yard, the Northern Beltline's absurdity was only surpassed by Colorado's $5.5 billion Denver FasTracks, by Texas' $11 billon super collider, by Boston's $14.5 billion Big Dig, by New York's $20 billion Second Avenue Subway, by Nevada's $38 billion Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository, and by the No. 1 biggest boondoggle in all the land, California's $68 billion high-speed rail.

The Northern Beltline, with a route that seems more like a gerrymander than a direct route, weaves over 52 miles of northern Jefferson County. It is to be completed sometime after 2050. If it is ever done.

The first phase, linking I-59 to I-65 in far northern Jefferson County, is expected to cost $3 billion and be finished by 2040. The final loop isn't planned yet because there's no available money.

As the website put it: "The main controversy behind this project is the long timeline and the fact that other projects are being pushed aside as this one is prioritized. Residents feel that 35 years is excessive."

Ya think?

Fact of the matter is other cities across the state have plenty of road and bridge needs of their own. Some of them will have to wait through years of congestion and possible danger so drivers from Nashville to Atlanta can get where they are going faster, without ever having to see the Birmingham skyline.

I've said it before and I will dang sure have years and years to say it again.

The Northern Beltline is a money pit with staggering environmental implications on a bad route owned by fat cats who want only to get fatter.

The Northern Beltline relies on 20th century transportation planning to provide a mid-21st century transportation solution. It is built in a place without sewer lines or infrastructure, in a county that will be still be broke in 2050.

And it will cost more than $1,100 for every human being in the state of Alabama – which isn't paying for it but loves to complain about wasted taxpayer money.

There is so much more that could be done with $5 billion. Even those online banker types can see it.

For the boondoggle it is.


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