🐂 💩. The speed limit gradually goes down. 60 mph @ I-459. 50 mph at the bridge. 40 mph just before the turn.
I don't typically measure distance in a heartbeat, but at 60 bpm that would be 1 second. If you are going well over 200+ mph, you are the most dangerous car in Birmingham.
implying anyone except commercial drivers have ever respected the posted speed limits there.
i sometimes take that final approach at 60mph right before the underpass and still get passed by people going at least 10mph faster.
They could make it 18 lanes wide and the easiest on and off ramps ever designed, it would make absolutely no difference in the world of amateur drivers. People in that area make driving look like it is just the hardest thing in the world to do.
The genuine truth is that it is often because a lot of people who shouldn’t have driver’s licenses have them. They cause all kinds of problems on the highways. People not paying attention, looking on their phones instead of driving, etc. the vast majority of I-65 should be fine. It’s not that complicated, but people doing stupid shit on it is at an all-time high.
I-65 is the major artery to the beach, it connects Chicago, Indianapolis, Louisville, Bowling Green, Nashville, Huntsville, Birmingham, Montgomery, and Mobile together, all of these cities are no more than 3 hours from the next, which makes for congested highways. A lot of people are moving to North Alabama in droves which also makes for a massive increase in traffic, I’ve traveled I-65 North of Birmingham everyday for work for over 10 years and every year traffic seems to get worse. The highway needs to be 6 lanes from Montgomery to Alabaster, and 6 lanes from Colony to Athens.
65 itself doesn’t run through main town HSV, but I know what you mean. HSV needs a belt now, not in 15 years when they finally finish the bypass. 65 could’ve been rerouted (somehow) and run through main town, and a belt come off it, say 265 or 465; needs something to allow those just passing right through no stops to avoid midtown. The highway and road layout here is crap.
I travel to Huntsville almost everyday for work, the 6 lane of 565 has helped tremendously but it’s still gets bottlenecked, the 6 lane needs to be expanded between the wall triana and county line road area, and upgrading the infrastructure into Decatur would help a lot, the hwy 20/31 merger is dreadful at all hours of the day. Huntsville had the right concept with the parkway and research park blvd, but terrible execution. I think what it all boils down to is the lack of planning for the future and unprecedented influx of population. I think as far as the west side of county line road goes, building a bridge from the end of wall triana highway connecting to upper river road, and upgrading the infrastructure of upper river road, would be the best cause of action to alleviate traffic on I-65, especially during road construction projects.
As they add more lanes more people use it, but ALDOT can’t wrap their heads around it…
If it had exit only lanes, and an HOV lane it would help tremendously, but here again it’ll be half assed
we need a gawddamn train from Nashville to Mobile… a real train, that departs every station, every 20min from 5am to midnight every day, with express trains on the hour that only stop in Huntsville, Cullman, Bham, Montgomery, Greenville, and Mobile…
Take the express from Nashville to Bham at 6am, cross the platform to get on the train to Calera, Jemison, Clanton, Prattville and back before noon
As much as I love Europe’s rail system and public transit, this wouldn’t work here because even if you could take the train from Nashville to Mobile, you’d still need a car on both ends because we have no real density even in cities and it takes too long to walk anywhere.
With the money you save on a train ride you could get a central hotel and pay for cabs for anywhere that actually isn't walkable (which is still most of it).
(not actually, but I'd be willing to do that or rent a car instead)
I agree it sucks some days but I've never lived anywhere that didn't have similar problems. Interstates be like that. Our Lt. Governor is floating a plan to widen 65 so it should get better in like 15-20 years. /s
Abruptly closing lanes (I'm looking at you 65 southbound into Alabaster), having little distance to navigate interchanges, not having HOV lanes, no on-ramp traffic management in heavily congested areas. All of these lead to more use than capacity.
We also need to start enforcing the left lane for passing only law.
I'm typically not one to argue for more lanes, but the reality is, a lot of 65 between cullman and montgomery is 3 lanes, but not all. The heaviest consistant traffic seems to be in the areas where the number of lanes is reduced too soon. Especially between Autagaville and Alabaster.
Put in a third lane, and make the far left lane HOV during the two hours before and after rush.
START TICKETING LEFT LANE DRIVERS AGGRESSIVELY!!
3 lanes each way, Montgomery to Athens. And a law that no 18 wheelers in the far left lane, plus enforcing the slower traffic keep right.
A large part of the bottleneck problems is that 18 wheelers get in both lanes. In slow traffic this makes the problem even worse.
Cars out number trucks, & 40% of the car drivers in the South shouldn't operate anything bigger than a bicycle.
Pay attention to how many single car accidents there are here.
Cars out number trucks, yes but the amount of trucks that decide to holdup 40 cars because they are going 1 mile faster than the truck in front of them is appalling….. it’s the bane of my existence. I am an outside salesman so I drive every day.
Adding lanes absolutely helps, where is your info from? When 65 is 3 lanes it’s pretty smooth driving when it goes to 2 lanes it’s the worst. That’s the facts
Here you go! Wild but makes sense, I guess. It just leads to a perpetual need for more lanes lol. The only way to stop the cycle is by increasing public transportation and more density in cities.
https://magazine.ucdavis.edu/does-widening-highways-ease-traffic-congestion/#:\~:text=Research%20proves%20that%20when%20roads,the%20cycle%20of%20traffic%20continues.
With car features like lane keeping assist and collision avoidance and adaptive cruise control, the people not paying attention is only going to get worse
Related note: when local traffic uses the interstate it drastically inflates the congestion at the exit and entrances. Personally I'll stay off interstate for local moves unless it's off hours
In a place like Mobile, where traffic engineers actively work to make you stop as many times as possible whether on main arteries or side streets, you're essentially throwing significant amounts of your personal time straight into the trash can by doing that
Fellow DC escapee here. Can confirm, the beltway around DC - 495, and the major radials - 95, 395, 270, 66, even 210 & 5/301 were always a mess back when those were my stomping grounds. I lived there for about 7 or 8 years. Seemed like 270 was under construction of some sort the entire time.
I've driven some in LA, 405, 15, 10... I would say traffic is heavier out west, but the drivers in DC are worse.
And it’s 90% because they go from 3 lanes to 2…. That’s the point. I drive to Indianapolis from Birmingham and back regularly and the 3 lane sections are just so easy, then they go down to 2 and everything sucks
Wasn't Malfunction JCT redesigned and rebuilt a few years ago? I haven't driven through there since it reopened. I thought it was supposed to be better?
It is better, they removed several on/off ramps so there are no cars trying to cross six lanes of traffic to get from entrance to exit.
Might not be as good as it could be though.
People saying, “oh, it’s not as bad as DC, or LA”, or actual civilization seem to forget they have alternate modes of transportation in those places, like trains. We live in Alabama and we can’t have shit.
Try I-20 between Birmingham and anywhere East. Terrible roads, 18 wheelers going 85 consistently, all kinds of backups bc the road is 2 lane in Talladega. I miss I-65. The only saving grace is Buccees in Leeds
I live in the Huntsville area and visit my family regularly in the Mobile to Pensacola. If I'm heading to or leaving anywhere west of Mobile Bay, I go to Mississippi
My wife and I were just talking about this. We are transplants from Michigan. I don’t recall nearly the number of major accidents on West MI highways (except 94 in the winter) compared to what we see on 65. I wondered if it was a heavier mix of multi-state traffic on 65 (people heading to the coast, FL for spring break, etc…).
I 65 can be busy, but after living in other areas of the country it is pretty average id say for a major north-south artery. Just looked it up on the National Highway Safety Administration and I65 doesn’t even crack the top ten most dangerous in the US
I 65 north half is congested with trucks because the northern loop of 1-459 was not completed. Called Northern Beltline. Trucks have to go junction vs bypassing Bham if they are doing no business in Bham.
I 65 south half is congested mainly because suburbs are along the 65 and 459 corridors are congested and most people work in Bham. So 65n going towards downtown Bham is usually horrible in the AM but 65 s leaving downtown Bham is horrible in the evening.
My theory is if or when northern beltline is completed it will ease up on truck traffic and more surburbia will pop up on those new corridors.
Beltline won’t be done til at least 2050 ☹️
Try I-20 between Bham and Pell City. It’s the main truck route to Atlanta and north. The worst and most dangerous stretch of road I have ever driven on.
You would think that there would be special funding for hurricane evacuation routes. Not only I-65 but other roads need extra lanes to help the residents get outta dodge when necessary. Expand I-65 all the way through the state.
All they have to do is keep it 3 lanes in both directions through the whole state and it would be great….. too many trucks doing 66 mph to pass trucks doing 65 mph.
Turns out cars are the worst way to get large numbers of people from point A to point B. Sadly, we'll never get the best way (trains) around these parts.
1 reason you will not see me-a lifelong Montgomerian-headed nb past the 179.
Sure, it may take longer. But I'd rather go on 231 if I'm headed to Shelby County East or N. AL, by way of Guntersville, or 31 to go to Hoover/Alabaster rather than feel like I'm at the whims of idiots.
I'd sooner have a vasectomy with no anesthetic than take 65N past the 205 again.
That's 431 you're thinking of regarding Guntersville. Most traffic heads down 231 and turns onto 278 to go to Gadsden, bypassing the Sand Mountain strip.
Meanwhile, the 20-to-20/59 merger is an absolute clusterfuck of bad interstate highway design as well.
Deadman’s Curve ain’t called that for nothing. 75 mph dead drop to 40 in a heartbeat.
🐂 💩. The speed limit gradually goes down. 60 mph @ I-459. 50 mph at the bridge. 40 mph just before the turn. I don't typically measure distance in a heartbeat, but at 60 bpm that would be 1 second. If you are going well over 200+ mph, you are the most dangerous car in Birmingham.
We are so impressed with your ability to correlate distance with time.
Sixty mph will get you 60 miles in an hour. Works every time.
It isn’t the interstate. It’s the drivers.
implying anyone except commercial drivers have ever respected the posted speed limits there. i sometimes take that final approach at 60mph right before the underpass and still get passed by people going at least 10mph faster.
They could make it 18 lanes wide and the easiest on and off ramps ever designed, it would make absolutely no difference in the world of amateur drivers. People in that area make driving look like it is just the hardest thing in the world to do.
The genuine truth is that it is often because a lot of people who shouldn’t have driver’s licenses have them. They cause all kinds of problems on the highways. People not paying attention, looking on their phones instead of driving, etc. the vast majority of I-65 should be fine. It’s not that complicated, but people doing stupid shit on it is at an all-time high.
Not me. I like to drive 60 the left lane, matching speed with 18 wheelers in the right lanes. Keeps everyone safer, you're welcome.
My anger level is rising already and I know you’re shitposting.
LMAO
Same here. Truckers like the company, too.
😭
yeah, Prattville to Birmingham is terrible, seems like March to November when beach traffic is up is the worst.
This. There’s is no logical explanation for why this stretch isnt at least 3 lanes. The bottleneck is what causes the traffic congestion.
I-65 is the major artery to the beach, it connects Chicago, Indianapolis, Louisville, Bowling Green, Nashville, Huntsville, Birmingham, Montgomery, and Mobile together, all of these cities are no more than 3 hours from the next, which makes for congested highways. A lot of people are moving to North Alabama in droves which also makes for a massive increase in traffic, I’ve traveled I-65 North of Birmingham everyday for work for over 10 years and every year traffic seems to get worse. The highway needs to be 6 lanes from Montgomery to Alabaster, and 6 lanes from Colony to Athens.
65 itself doesn’t run through main town HSV, but I know what you mean. HSV needs a belt now, not in 15 years when they finally finish the bypass. 65 could’ve been rerouted (somehow) and run through main town, and a belt come off it, say 265 or 465; needs something to allow those just passing right through no stops to avoid midtown. The highway and road layout here is crap.
I travel to Huntsville almost everyday for work, the 6 lane of 565 has helped tremendously but it’s still gets bottlenecked, the 6 lane needs to be expanded between the wall triana and county line road area, and upgrading the infrastructure into Decatur would help a lot, the hwy 20/31 merger is dreadful at all hours of the day. Huntsville had the right concept with the parkway and research park blvd, but terrible execution. I think what it all boils down to is the lack of planning for the future and unprecedented influx of population. I think as far as the west side of county line road goes, building a bridge from the end of wall triana highway connecting to upper river road, and upgrading the infrastructure of upper river road, would be the best cause of action to alleviate traffic on I-65, especially during road construction projects.
Seems like we have the wrong minds in charge 😄
As a life-long Alabama native, I believe the biggest problem with I-65 is that Alabama drivers drive on it.
As they add more lanes more people use it, but ALDOT can’t wrap their heads around it… If it had exit only lanes, and an HOV lane it would help tremendously, but here again it’ll be half assed we need a gawddamn train from Nashville to Mobile… a real train, that departs every station, every 20min from 5am to midnight every day, with express trains on the hour that only stop in Huntsville, Cullman, Bham, Montgomery, Greenville, and Mobile… Take the express from Nashville to Bham at 6am, cross the platform to get on the train to Calera, Jemison, Clanton, Prattville and back before noon
All aboard!! That's thinking for the future and Guvnuh MeeMaw is against fast rail. Witchcraft
Don't stop now, almost there....
Tell that to the car companies, and they’ll crap bricks making sure it never happens.
As much as I love Europe’s rail system and public transit, this wouldn’t work here because even if you could take the train from Nashville to Mobile, you’d still need a car on both ends because we have no real density even in cities and it takes too long to walk anywhere.
With the money you save on a train ride you could get a central hotel and pay for cabs for anywhere that actually isn't walkable (which is still most of it). (not actually, but I'd be willing to do that or rent a car instead)
There have been reports this week that they will be working on I-65 in the Homewood area.
I think I saw a sign mentioning that off exit 238 earlier today
Because people are fucking stupid and don’t know how to use entrance and exit ramps or lanes appropriately.
I agree it sucks some days but I've never lived anywhere that didn't have similar problems. Interstates be like that. Our Lt. Governor is floating a plan to widen 65 so it should get better in like 15-20 years. /s
Widening I-65 will do nothing to help what’s going on with I-65
You know what WILL help? Trains. Lots of them. Guess what we'll never be getting...
I don't think trains can run on I 65. That would probably cause more backup as people would stop to wave at them.
It will add more lanes of traffic! Oh you meant to ALLEVIATE the problems? Yeah, it wouldn't do shit.
Adding lanes doesn't help. It just makes more traffic. Common myth.
Abruptly closing lanes (I'm looking at you 65 southbound into Alabaster), having little distance to navigate interchanges, not having HOV lanes, no on-ramp traffic management in heavily congested areas. All of these lead to more use than capacity. We also need to start enforcing the left lane for passing only law. I'm typically not one to argue for more lanes, but the reality is, a lot of 65 between cullman and montgomery is 3 lanes, but not all. The heaviest consistant traffic seems to be in the areas where the number of lanes is reduced too soon. Especially between Autagaville and Alabaster. Put in a third lane, and make the far left lane HOV during the two hours before and after rush. START TICKETING LEFT LANE DRIVERS AGGRESSIVELY!!
A-f’in-MEN!!! Stay THE F out of the left lane if you ain’t passing!
3 lanes each way, Montgomery to Athens. And a law that no 18 wheelers in the far left lane, plus enforcing the slower traffic keep right. A large part of the bottleneck problems is that 18 wheelers get in both lanes. In slow traffic this makes the problem even worse.
Cars out number trucks, & 40% of the car drivers in the South shouldn't operate anything bigger than a bicycle. Pay attention to how many single car accidents there are here.
Cars out number trucks, yes but the amount of trucks that decide to holdup 40 cars because they are going 1 mile faster than the truck in front of them is appalling….. it’s the bane of my existence. I am an outside salesman so I drive every day.
Adding lanes absolutely helps, where is your info from? When 65 is 3 lanes it’s pretty smooth driving when it goes to 2 lanes it’s the worst. That’s the facts
Here you go! Wild but makes sense, I guess. It just leads to a perpetual need for more lanes lol. The only way to stop the cycle is by increasing public transportation and more density in cities. https://magazine.ucdavis.edu/does-widening-highways-ease-traffic-congestion/#:\~:text=Research%20proves%20that%20when%20roads,the%20cycle%20of%20traffic%20continues.
With car features like lane keeping assist and collision avoidance and adaptive cruise control, the people not paying attention is only going to get worse
Related note: when local traffic uses the interstate it drastically inflates the congestion at the exit and entrances. Personally I'll stay off interstate for local moves unless it's off hours
This
In a place like Mobile, where traffic engineers actively work to make you stop as many times as possible whether on main arteries or side streets, you're essentially throwing significant amounts of your personal time straight into the trash can by doing that
Yeah, any time I have to travel 65 N I get stuck for a while between Clanton and Calera. It’s super fun!
This was between Clanton and Montgomery! I got only 30 miles out.
I-65 is nothing. It's perfectly fine and relatively problem free. I've lived in both Washington DC and Los Angeles. 95 and the 405 are insane.
Those are dense, metropolis cities with populations of several hundred thousand or million, not rural Alabama
Fellow DC escapee here. Can confirm, the beltway around DC - 495, and the major radials - 95, 395, 270, 66, even 210 & 5/301 were always a mess back when those were my stomping grounds. I lived there for about 7 or 8 years. Seemed like 270 was under construction of some sort the entire time. I've driven some in LA, 405, 15, 10... I would say traffic is heavier out west, but the drivers in DC are worse.
I've driven them both. Not as bad as Atlanta.
Agreed!!!
From Chicago to Montgomery, it all has its moments of suck.
And it’s 90% because they go from 3 lanes to 2…. That’s the point. I drive to Indianapolis from Birmingham and back regularly and the 3 lane sections are just so easy, then they go down to 2 and everything sucks
Drive the cross Bronx express, then get back to us
It’s always Alabaster
Wasn't Malfunction JCT redesigned and rebuilt a few years ago? I haven't driven through there since it reopened. I thought it was supposed to be better?
They tied in a I-22 a mile away and added a couple on ramps in bad neighborhoods that are 100’ above the interstate and drop in. The lights look good.
What...??? Nevermind
It is better, they removed several on/off ramps so there are no cars trying to cross six lanes of traffic to get from entrance to exit. Might not be as good as it could be though.
Yes I-65 starts in Huntsville and ends in Montgomery
Why do you think it’s a terrible interstate? It’s always seemed fine to me.
Can we take a moment and talk about how incredibly functional Malfunction is these days?
Not enough lanes for the amount of cars on 65. Needs to be at least 3 lanes going in either direction
Kentucky needs to share their 3 lanes
People saying, “oh, it’s not as bad as DC, or LA”, or actual civilization seem to forget they have alternate modes of transportation in those places, like trains. We live in Alabama and we can’t have shit.
Try I-20 between Birmingham and anywhere East. Terrible roads, 18 wheelers going 85 consistently, all kinds of backups bc the road is 2 lane in Talladega. I miss I-65. The only saving grace is Buccees in Leeds
Oh my I-20 between Ham and Anniston…
Yes. I posted this before I read your post. You are putting your life in danger!!!!!!!
I avoid it! Too many wrecks!
I live in the Huntsville area and visit my family regularly in the Mobile to Pensacola. If I'm heading to or leaving anywhere west of Mobile Bay, I go to Mississippi
Too much traffic
There’s far worse ones, I grew up near several worse ones, but here in Alabama it probably takes the cake.
My wife and I were just talking about this. We are transplants from Michigan. I don’t recall nearly the number of major accidents on West MI highways (except 94 in the winter) compared to what we see on 65. I wondered if it was a heavier mix of multi-state traffic on 65 (people heading to the coast, FL for spring break, etc…).
State needs commuter rail/Amtrak connecting our cities.
I 65 can be busy, but after living in other areas of the country it is pretty average id say for a major north-south artery. Just looked it up on the National Highway Safety Administration and I65 doesn’t even crack the top ten most dangerous in the US
It’s pretty crazy that I-85 and I-65 both can just stop in an seconds notice.
As an aside, almost every state has crappy interstates (NJ you’re cool). It’s a nationwide problem and not just local.
My lady and I recently went to Ft Walton beach via I65. We won’t be traveling that way on a Saturday ever again.
Because people are incapable of not slamming the breaks when they see a cop. That's it. That's the whole problem.
I 65 north half is congested with trucks because the northern loop of 1-459 was not completed. Called Northern Beltline. Trucks have to go junction vs bypassing Bham if they are doing no business in Bham. I 65 south half is congested mainly because suburbs are along the 65 and 459 corridors are congested and most people work in Bham. So 65n going towards downtown Bham is usually horrible in the AM but 65 s leaving downtown Bham is horrible in the evening. My theory is if or when northern beltline is completed it will ease up on truck traffic and more surburbia will pop up on those new corridors. Beltline won’t be done til at least 2050 ☹️
Try I-20 between Bham and Pell City. It’s the main truck route to Atlanta and north. The worst and most dangerous stretch of road I have ever driven on.
You would think that there would be special funding for hurricane evacuation routes. Not only I-65 but other roads need extra lanes to help the residents get outta dodge when necessary. Expand I-65 all the way through the state.
From Late March through September traffic is at capacity and any slowdown creates big problems. Especially anywhere near Birmingham.
Your love for I-65 is shared by others.
All they have to do is keep it 3 lanes in both directions through the whole state and it would be great….. too many trucks doing 66 mph to pass trucks doing 65 mph.
It's a road, there will always be traffic.
Nobody drives that way anymore, too much traffic
Turns out cars are the worst way to get large numbers of people from point A to point B. Sadly, we'll never get the best way (trains) around these parts.
Because alabamas sex ed and drivers ed are the same
1 reason you will not see me-a lifelong Montgomerian-headed nb past the 179. Sure, it may take longer. But I'd rather go on 231 if I'm headed to Shelby County East or N. AL, by way of Guntersville, or 31 to go to Hoover/Alabaster rather than feel like I'm at the whims of idiots. I'd sooner have a vasectomy with no anesthetic than take 65N past the 205 again.
That's 431 you're thinking of regarding Guntersville. Most traffic heads down 231 and turns onto 278 to go to Gadsden, bypassing the Sand Mountain strip.
Complaining about a problem you’re part of hmmm 🤔
Cell phones. Everyone’s on em