Alabama State Route 297

Infobox road
state=AL
type=AL
route=297
alternate_name=
length_mi=1
length_round=
length_ref= [ [http://colepages.com/routes201225.html#ala297 Highway Route Info Routes 201 - 225 ] ]
established=
direction_a=South
starting_terminus=
junction=
direction_b=North
ending_terminus=
counties=Tuscaloosa
previous_type=AL
previous_route=295
next_type=AL
next_route=299

The Warrior Loop or the Tuscaloosa Eastern Bypass is a proposed four-lane, 18-mile, $250 million bypass of the city of Tuscaloosa, Alabama to be completed by 2012. Its route would begin at Interstates 20/59 in Cottondale and terminate at U.S. Highway 82 just to the west of Northport. Currently listed as State Route 297, it is estimated to serve 37,530 vehicles on a daily basis upon its completion.

Currently SR-297 is just over 1 mile long serving as the fourth Black Warrior crossing in Tuscaloosa. Its southern terminus at Jack Warner Parkway contains an elevated stub where the road will continue in its southernly track in the future. Its northern terminus is located at its intersection with Rice Mine Road.

History

By the late 1980s, it became clear that an additional vehicular crossing of the Black Warrior River would be necessary as both the U.S. Highway 43 and U.S. Highway 82 were approaching their designed carrying capacity. As a result, in 1991, the Metropolitan Planning Agency of West Alabama working with the Alabama Department of Transportation began a study of a bypass around the city.cite web
url = http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/trans/hpw105-6.000/hpw105-6_4.HTM
title = ISTEA Reauthorization: Member Policy Initiatives and Requests for Highway & Transit Projects in the ISTEA Reauthorization
accessdate = 2006-12-06
author = ISTEA] By 1992, Senator Richard Shelby and Alabama congressman Claude Harris were successful in securing $6.4 million in federal funds for engineering studies, land acquisition, and construction of the bypass through the Land Surface Transportation Act.

By 1997, $118,590,000, was requested to construct the first portion of the road between Interstates 20/59 in Cottondale and Rice Mine Road including a new Black Warrior River crossing.

In 2000, construction commenced on the Paul Bryant Bridge, located approximately one half of a mile to the east of the U.S. Highway 82 crossing. It opened on April 23, 2004 at a final cost of $35 million.cite news
last =Parrott
first =Scott
coauthors =
title =Paul Bryant Bridge open to traffic today
work =The Tuscaloosa News
pages =
date =2004-04-24
url =
accessdate = ] Considered to be Phase I, with the bridge completion, Phase II commenced with the appraising of properties along the proposed right-of-way between Interstate 20/59 and Rice Mine Road.

Controversy

The primary opponents to the project are a group of environmentalists dedicated to the preservation of Tuscaloosa’s Hurricane Creek. The Friends of Hurricane Creek seek to alter the proposed routing to minimize degradation of the creek resulting from its construction. One of their proposals called for the rerouting of the road along Jack Warner Parkway to connect with Interstate 359 south of downtown Tuscaloosa.cite news
last =Parrott
first =Scott
coauthors =
title =Environmentalists debate bypass location
work =The Tuscaloosa News
pages =
date =2001-03-21
url =
accessdate = ]

By 2002, the Tuscaloosa chapters of the Sierra Club and the Alabama River Alliance also joined in the chorus of groups against the construction of the bypass.cite news
last =Beyerle
first =Dana
coauthors =
title =Changes in bypass route requested
work =The Tuscaloosa News
pages =
date =2006-12-17
url =
accessdate = ]

Exit list

The entire route is in Tuscaloosa County.

ee also

*Paul Bryant Bridge

References