Starting off May’s recap with more original reporting by us.

Last month we mentioned plans for a new bike lane expected on Seminole Drive. A month later and the road is still unfinished. What happened is the road was accidentally stripped too early, before road widening for the bike lane was ready. So in the meantime, the road was given a quick and rough temporary pave job, which is why the pavement looks and feels so unfinished. A bike lane is coming, but there is no exact timeline for now.

On that same road, a bus shelter was removed, and a new one is expected to be added on the other side of the street. The old shelter was presumably removed to expand the road to make room for the new bike lane.

In the same area, the bike lane on 9th ave, which connects to Seminole, will be seeing bike lane signs and markings very soon! The bike lane has gone unlabeled for months now, which has resulted in cars frequently parked in the bike lane.

The Governors Drive + Medical District Safety Study has a survey available! Click here to take the survey.

Now for the news articles from other outlets

Affordable housing among Huntsville’s top new construction projects
A new apartment complex for low-income residents will be opening soon in North Huntsville. Unfortunately, its located in a fairly car-dependent neighborhood. People with low income are the most likely to not own a car, and the ones who do own a car, likely can only barely afford it.
A walmart is located nearby, but due to bad design, what could be a 10 minute walk is actually a 30+ minute walk.
Luckily there is ample bus service, as you can see with this map. But the bus doesn’t serve the nearest grocery store, instead is serves the Kroger a mile further down the road. Not optimal, but it at least is a feasible trip with google maps estimating the bus ride to take between 15 and 30 minutes.

MidCity District announces upgrades, new businesses coming to Plaza
Midcity continues to see active construction, turning the area into a dense, walkable neighborhood.

Fast-growing Huntsville reaches new national milestone
New Census data released showing Huntsville has grown to 233,627 residents. This is actually lower than the city’s own estimates, which place us at nearly 250,000 people. Regardless, both estimates show Huntsville growing at good pace. We’re back to being in the top 100 most populated cities and we are likely to grow higher by the time of the next Census.

Madison has little room to grow. Yet it’s adding more than 11 people per day
Madison is actually growing faster than Huntsville, adding around 600 more people than Huntsville did. Despite the AL.com headline, Madison definitely has more room to grow. Fun fact, Madison is only 10% smaller than Manhattan, New York City, but has 1,600,000 fewer people. Madison could double its population and not even be in the top 100 most densely populated US cities. The city certainly has more room to grow, as long as they build more than just single family homes.

Huntsville advances 5 roadway and greenway projects
Most notable is the design work for the Bailey Cove multi-use path was approved.

Huntsville outlines proposed TIF district for downtown
Without going into detail on how TIF districts work, the purpose is to fund an expansion of the VBC, build the North Huntsville Beltline Greenway, and provide other improvements.
City leaders have discussed the need to expand the convention center, citing previous events with defense and aerospace contractors not being able to fit all of their booths inside, leading to many industry leaders unable to attend the event.
I looked more into this and compared Huntsville’s convention center with Birmingham’s and Atlanta’s convention centers.
The land area the VBC sits on is small. It sits at around .095km squared, vs Birmingham’s BJCC which is .115km squared and Atlanta’s GWCC which is .305km squared.
Thats to say, if we expand the convention center and want to be anything like Birmingham or Atlanta, we’re gonna have to build much taller.
The BJCC is around the same land area, but is 3 floors, while the GWCC is 3x the land size and is 3 or 4 floors. The VBC is only 1 floor.

Leasing and tours start at Huntsville’s new $375 million residential development
Apartments at the Front Row development will begin to be rented out in July, with tours happening now. There will be more than 500 units, ranging from studio (575 sqft) to 2 bedroom (1339 sqft). The units won’t be cheap. The prices range from $1,700 to $3,500, making these the most expensive apartments in the city. This does not include the $50/month parking rate.

Big Spring Park expansion to impact traffic on Church Street
Sections of Church St will be temporarily closed over the next 2 months as progress on the expansion of Big Spring Park makes quick development.

Good news for visitors to Huntsville’s Orion Amphitheater: More parking on the way
A large parking deck has been designed as will soon come to the Orion Amphitheater. This will be the second largest public parking garage in the city, with 924 car parking spaces and 30 bike racks.