Talk:Interstate 565

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[edit] I-65 routing: Wallace rumors / Decatur larger than Hsv?

When I was growing up in Huntsville, the rumor was that George Wallace had some involvement with routing Interstate 65 through Decatur instead of Huntsville because Madison County had once voted against him. Anyone else heard of this? Probably urban legend because of the plausibility of such political maneuvers, but I figured I'd ask. Related to that, it sounds really surprising that Decatur would be larger than Huntsville in the 1950's -- I know that was pre-boom, but it's still surprising to me. So corroboration would be worthwhile. (I looked at Decatur, Alabama to no avail. Thanks, PhilipR 02:00, 31 July 2005 (UTC)

I read somewhere related rumors that George Wallace was behind making the I-65 segments around Birmingham the last to be completed.

And yes, Huntsville really was smaller than Decatur until the space program came in the 1950's. According to this page at AL.com, Huntsville's population increased 340% in the 1950's. I don't know exactly when I-65's route was determined, but keeping it near U.S. Highway 31, the highway it followed, would take it through Decatur, not Huntsville. --Lkseitz 15:14, 7 August 2006 (UTC)

The population argument is correct. Planning for 65 was done pre-boom. But you folks miss something geographic. Note how 65 strays quite a bit to the east (and closer to Huntsville than 31 reaches) of Decatur. Furthermore... trying to route 65 into Huntsville from Birmingham would have been challenging. The descent from Arab and Brindlee Mountain to the Valley would have been tight: plus, when you get to Huntsville on 231, you've got no clearance to the west -- it's Redstone Arsenal, and you've got Monte Sano and its elevation on the east side. Routing through Huntsville, even if it had been larger at the time, would have been challenging. The grade from Vinemont north to Hartselle and on to the river was clearly the rational route to take.

The other Wallace "rumors" are bunk. 65 north of Birmingham had to go west of 31 due to development in Fultondale and Gardendale... that meant a LOT of rock cuts, something Alabama delayed, hoping to save money: it turned out for the best, because 65 has great design on that last section. On the south side, it was a timing issue with finishing the 4-level stack interchange with I-459, and another tremendous rock cut needed as I-65 crosses southbound over US 31/Montgomery Highway. I recall before that done, it literally looked like I-65 ended into a mountain that was missing its tunnel.--Sturmde 00:22, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] 565 and 431 shields not showing up

I've tried this from several computers, and the 565 Shield and the 431 shield are not showing up in this article for some reason. Is it my login, maybe, or are other people experiencing the same problem? --Zpb52 15:47, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

Not just you. Whereas Image:I-565.svg works fine, the actual location pointed to in the img tag doesn't. It's as though the server thought it put the scaled image somewhere besides where it actually put it. 431 appears to be similar. Cheers, PhilipR 17:27, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Image:Interstate 565 map.png

I'm all for standardized "big picture" maps, but this one is just about useless. There are a couple of red pixels that show up where 565 is, true, but you'd have to know where you're looking to find them! How about a similarly-sized map with the scope of the Southeastern US? If needed, there could be an inset of the entire US with the coverage area highlighted to situate us in the big picture. The present map, though I'm sure it represents someone's hard work, is a good example of why patterns need to be adapted to specific contexts. Cheers, PhilipR 16:12, 27 June 2007 (UTC)