Postcard From The Eternal Construction Zone Known as Tuscaloosa
The other day, I thought I would try and answer the one question that most people who have recently left Tuscaloosa would probably like an answer to ...
Yes, the downtown road project is still not finished.
Yeah, I know ...
The mile-long stretch on Lurleen Wallace Boulevard and parts in between in downtown Tuscaloosa remains a sea of orange cones and lane closures as the work continues. It's been that way for more a year and a half, leading to business closings and an endless supply of delays.
Now the summer heat has started to arrive as well.
This has become the new norm here, never mind the coronavirus pandemic because at least with that there's optimism it'll eventually go away. New buildings are still going up. Others are being overhauled. The roads remain a continual work in progress.
Bryant-Denny Stadium? Being renovated.
Turn south and the new Tutwiler Hall is being built.
The road to Bryant-Denny Stadium from the west? Under construction, and not in only one spot.
Head east and the road is closed in front of the stadium and beyond, making it look like the area was invaded by detour signs.
With the university shut down to students this summer, the amount of orange almost exceeds the crimson. And you know how people here feel about orange.
There's so much construction that even Alabama's historic mental institution Bryce Hospital is in the midst of being rebuilt.
This will end someday, right?
Right?
In the meantime, after coming to the conclusion that the easiest job in Tuscaloosa right now would be as a construction photographer, I headed out to the part of town that was hit by the Easter tornado.
Most of the major cleanup is done, although people are still clearing out fallen trees and so forth. That's going to take a while, but at least it's getting harder to find cleanup spots outside of of wooded areas where Mother Nature will eventually do the job on her own with the aid of gravity, exposure to the elements (and animals) and decay.
It'll probably take about as long as the road work on 20/59.
Not expecting a Christmas card from the DOT,
— Christopher Walsh
