WHAT COMPRISES THE BIRMINGHAM BUS RAPID TRANSIT (BRT) PROJECT?
Overview of Birmingham Xpress
The Birmingham Xpress (BX) is a new, regional public transit system that will serve the communities of Birmingham and surrounding areas. BX will employ Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) technology to provide a high-quality public transit system that delivers fast, reliable and cost-effective mobility services for citizens and visitors. The Birmingham Xpress BRT Project will connect 25 neighborhoods to opportunities and vital services along its corridor. In addition, enable citizens to reach employment, educational, and healthcare centers. It will also provide access for visitors to explore Birmingham’s historic and cultural locations. BX will implement innovative system designs and technologies to improve travel time, lower costs, and enhance service appeal. These objectives are accomplished by:
- Dedicated Busway & Alignment
- Intersection Treatments (Signal Priority)
- Vehicle Design
- Platform-Level-Boarding Stations
- Off-board Ticketing/Fare Collection
- Enhanced Transit Service
- Rider Appeal (Branding)
- Land Use Coordination (TOD)
Think light-rail transit on rubber tires – BRT can travel as fast as light rail, but at approximately one-third of the construction costs.
Public benefits of the new transit service will be wide-ranging and include Economic Competitiveness, Quality of Life, Safety Improvements, Environmental Sustainability, and improvement in Transportation State of Good Repair.
The City of Birmingham, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Federal Transit Administration (FTA), and the Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority (BJCTA), is developing the first alignment for Birmingham Xpress regional vision. The project, referred to as Birmingham Xpress BRT Project or simply BRT or BRT Project, will be developed in a corridor approximately ten (10) miles between the east and west termini or Transit Centers in the Woodlawn Community and Five Points West Community near Birmingham Crossplex. Running through Birmingham’s Jones Valley along the US11 corridor, the BRT will update Birmingham’s inner-city public transit system by connecting 25 neighborhoods, while serving major employers such as Integrated Medical Systems, the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), and Brookwood Princeton Medical Center. The route travels from the Woodlawn Transit Center on 1st Avenue N between 56th and 57th Street to the Crossplex Transit Center at the Intersection of Avenue W and 47th Street Ensley.
The new BX alignment will replace BJCTA’s MAX services that currently operate within the corridor, greatly improving reliability, mobility, capacity and operations on one of BJCTA’s highest ridership corridors. The travel time between Woodlawn and Crossplex is estimated to be just under an hour.
New high-capacity, low- or no-emission rapid buses will feature low-floor level boarding; and operate in both dedicated lanes (guideways) and in mixed traffic on 15-minute intervals (headways) during peak periods (30 minutes in off-peak periods and on weekends). Other rapid bus features include self-securing wheelchair parking, on-board bike racks, spacious seating, and automatic vehicle location (AVL) and transit signal priority (TSP) technologies. BRT stations will feature a high-level of amenities with platform boarding, ticket validation (some with ticket vending machine [TVM]), contemporary shelters with lighting, passenger information displays, maps and wayfinding, bicycle parking with some locations and other features. Thirty-two (32) stops and two (2) transit centers are strategically located along the corridor.
For more information about the Birmingham Xpress and Birmingham Xpress BRT Project, visit www.maxtransit.org/bx.
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The Birmingham Xpress BRT Project route is divided into three segments:
East Segment (Stations E-2 through E-5): Begins at the proposed Woodlawn Community Transit Center in the historic community of Woodlawn and extends westward to 18th Street in downtown Birmingham via 1st Ave North.
In-Town Transit Partnership (ITP) (Stations ITP-1 through ITP-5): An intermediary segment begins at the intersection of 18th Street and 1st Avenue North, heads south on 18th Street then west on 5th Avenue South to the intersection of 8th Street South and 6th Avenue South.
Western Segment (Stations W-1 through W-7): Begins at 5th Avenue South to the intersection of 8th Street South and 6th Avenue South. It continues southward to the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive along the eastern boundary of Elmwood Cemetery where the segment heads north to a Y-intersection with Lomb Ave to Bessemer Road US 11 to Avenue W to the station at the intersection of Ave W and 47 St adjacent by the library.
For more information on the Birmingham Xpress download the following below.
Dedicated Bus Lanes (Complete)
The West Segment and ITP Segment of the BRT Corridor will include dedicated bus lanes starting from the West Transit Center (WTC) at Crossplex and ending at the BJCTA Intermodal Facility – Central Station (1st Ave North). Permanent striping is to commence starting April 4th, 2022 and is scheduled to end July 31st, 2022. The streets that will have dedicated bus lanes are the following:
- Ave W
- 3rd Ave West (Bessemer Super Highway)
- Lomb Ave
- MLK Jr. Blvd
- 6th Ave SW/S
- 8th St S
- 5th Ave S
- 18th St N/S
Striping will include additional crosswalk bars, directional arrows, sharrows and more.
We will update this section as striping progresses over the next few weeks. Please follow our social media channels (@BhamCPMO) for picture and video updates as well.
Construction Schedule – Completion Percentage (%)
- West Transit Center (100% complete) as of 7/29/22.
- East Transit Center (100% complete) as of 7/29/22.
- Roadway and Transit Station Construction (100% complete) as of 7/29/22.
- West Transit Center (100% complete) as of 5/4/22.
- East Transit Center (80% complete) as of 5/4/22.
- Roadway and Transit Station Construction (80% complete) as of 5/4/22.
- West Transit Center (85% complete) as of 1/26/22.
- East Transit Center (38% complete) as of 1/26/22.
- Roadway and Transit Station Construction (40% complete) as of 1/26/22.
- West Transit Center (40% complete) as of 9/13/21.
- East Transit Center (5% complete) as of 9/13/21. (10% complete) as of 10/28/21.
- Roadway and Transit Station Construction (0%) as of 9/13/21.
NEPA Reevaluation February Package 2019
Click here to see display boards of the BRT stations.
If you will like to review the BXBRT DBE Industry Day Conference webinar click here.
