By David Sher
Editor’s note: This column is based on the podcast, Talking Headways: A Streetsblog Podcast. Episode 552: Under a Highway in Birmingham, Alabama.
If you look at an aerial photograph of downtown Birmingham, you’ll notice something peculiar: Interstate 59 and Interstate 20 make a sharp, inexplicable bend as they pass through the city center. That bend tells a story—one of the darkest chapters in American urban planning.
The Ugly History
When highway planners designed Birmingham’s interstate system in the 1950s and 60s, they didn’t choose that route by accident. They deliberately carved the highway through a thriving Black neighborhood—specifically targeting the area where Birmingham’s civil rights leaders lived. The goal was twofold: destroy a vibrant community and, planners hoped, interfere with the civil rights movement itself.
It’s a pattern repeated across America, where highways became weapons of urban renewal, systematically dismantling Black neighborhoods under the guise of progress. Birmingham’s bend in the road is physical evidence of that intentional destruction, a scar that remains visible decades later.
When the Highway Needed Rebuilding
Fast forward to 2016. The highway’s useful life had expired, and the Alabama Department of Transportation needed to reconstruct it. Controversy was inevitable, though ALDOT apparently didn’t see it coming. Community members organized to stop the project entirely, demanding the highway be buried and capped—an idea ALDOT quickly dismissed as too expensive.
The relationship between ALDOT and Birmingham’s communities was toxic. At initial meetings, representatives from neighborhood councils across the city—not just Black neighborhoods—showed up in opposition, deeply skeptical and angry. Trust had to be built from scratch.
Enter Ben Donsky, an urban planner who was brought in through an unusual channel: a lighting designer working on the highway project recommended him to ALDOT. As Donsky candidly shared in a recent podcast interview, he was essentially pitched as “a white guy who was gonna be comfortable talking to all of the black constituents that they were not comfortable talking to.” It was a frank acknowledgment of ALDOT’s failure to engage with the community it had historically harmed.
The Ingenious Compromise
Over six to eight months of intensive community engagement, Donsky and his team asked a simple question: Could a public space under the reconstructed highway actually meet real community needs?
The answer was yes. Birmingham had no skate park—residents had to drive to Tuscaloosa. Downtown lacked a dog park, quality playgrounds, and adequate green space. The skating and BMX communities showed up to meetings in force. Families needed play areas. With 31 acres of underutilized space beneath the highway, City Walk BHAM was born.
The project wasn’t just about recreation. It was about creating a management structure that would allow community organizations to host events, bringing diverse groups together in a space that had once symbolized division. Funding came through the federal highway reconstruction project itself—a piece of transportation infrastructure helping to heal the wound it had created.
City Walk opened before the 2022 World Games in Birmingham. Today, it’s a vibrant gathering place where high school football teams run drills, families celebrate quinceañeras, downtown residents walk their dogs, and Birmingham’s South Asian community celebrates Holi. The skate park is wildly popular. On hot days, it offers precious shade in downtown’s concrete landscape.
The Perilous Future
But here’s the problem: City Walk is thriving, yet its future hangs in the balance.
Because the space sits under a highway, it can never become an official city park. That means it has no dedicated funding stream. Every dollar of public support must be specifically appropriated, year after year. The Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Center Authority manages the space, but they’ve struggled to generate enough revenue through events and amenities like the beer garden to cover operating costs.
Birmingham’s city government was upfront from the beginning: they couldn’t afford to support City Walk when existing parks were already chronically underfunded. It’s a fair point, but it leaves City Walk in limbo. The park generates real economic benefits—increased foot traffic, improved perceptions of downtown, higher property values nearby—but there’s no mechanism to capture those benefits and reinvest them in the space.
City Walk proves that even spaces with the most painful histories can be transformed into community assets. It shows that good design and genuine community engagement can create something meaningful from infrastructure’s leftovers. But without a sustainable funding model, this ingenious solution to Birmingham’s highway problem may not survive.
The ugly history created the problem. The ingenious idea solved it. Now Birmingham needs to solve the funding peril—or risk losing a space that’s become essential to the city’s future.
David Sher is the founder and publisher of ComebackTown. He’s past Chairman of the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce (BBA), Operation New Birmingham (REV Birmingham), and the City Action Partnership (CAP).
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Invite David to speak for free to your group about how we can have a more prosperous metro Birmingham. dsher@comebacktown.com
Tuesday, December 30, 2025
…Does Birmingham have to depend solely on “city” gov’mint to bail Birmingham out on it’s highway and/or park funds ?
“Beer garden” ? What ?
Sumbody’s pull’in sumbody’s leg !!…
Where does county & state play a role ?
~ Ballard from Huntsville
This mile-long 59/20 bridge eliminated a dilapidated neighborhood. These urban planners did Birmingham a favor. Hopefully the Blacks and other residents who lived there were given just compensation and were able to buy better houses in better neighborhoods.
Apparently you did not read the article. The neighborhood that was destroyed was actually a thriving middle class black neighborhood, popular with civil rights activists at the time. And no, they were not given just compensation for their property nor for the cost of destroyed community connections and relationships. Why would you assume this predominately black neighborhood was dilapidated?
I agree. I grew up near 12th. Avenue and 24th. St. and later 14th. Avenue and 22 nd. St. I walked into downtown Bham. going to the movies. I do not recall a “thriving black neighborhood” where the interstate went through. It was a mixture of small manufacturers and dilapidated houses. I do recall blacks begin to move North into nice neighborhoods. I delivered newspapers all over Fountain Heights and Norwood to many happy folks (black and white) that seemed to be thriving.
…and if they weren’t ???
The neighborhood was dilapidated because the original highway project destroyed the neighborhood. So, it did clean up a mess that originated in racism.
You know Birmingham is in a grim spot when they have to design gathering spots under Interstate viaducts. I predict this area will unfortunately go the way of the Birmingham Race Course as we continue to hemorrhage population
Bham did not HAVE TO design public space under the freeway. It CHOSE to do so as a creative solution around what could be done for a dark and unused public space, which is usually nothing in every other city in America. This sounds like another post from a suburban resident whose life blood is disparaging this city for lack of anything better to do, unfortunately.
City Park was an acceptable and creative solution to historic racist actions. Birmingham is not “in a grim spot”. Using space under viaducts for community activities and expression is a great way to support community and create safe spaces. Have you ever been? Even though I moved an hour north many years ago, whenever I’m there, I try to walk there with my dog. It’s got the best children’s playground around, a fantastic skate park my daughter has used, and I would love to attend the community drumming sessions free on weekends. It’s a vibrant place that needs supporting.
I can’t speak to the long-term viability of City Walk. I hope the resources can be secured to keep it a safe and usable civic space for downtown Birmingham. Meanwhile, I’d like to recommend that the powers-that-be (Birmingham City? ALDOT?) give some attention to the area underneath the I59-20/Carraway Blvd/U.S.31-280) just a few block east of City Walk. I drove through that spaghetti junction of streets and ramps last week. It’s terribly confusing and in need of much better signage to direct drivers where they want to go. (I was dismayed but not surprised to see a homeless person sleeping under one of the overpasses. You can find such persons under highways in most cities.). The area could use a little landscaping, too. As this underneath part of the overhead highways is the gateway to Top Golf, the new Coca-Cola Amphitheater, and whatever developments are planned for Carraway Blvd, it deserves attention.
All space under the interstate and the signage to direct traffic is all ALDOT’s responsibility, and nothing will happen with this because ALDOT has shown over and over that concern for and maintenance of infrastructure in the city of Bham is a very low priority for this organization.
My husband and I have enjoyed CityWalk thoroughly. It is well designed and landscaped. We’ve been disappointed to never find the beer garden open. While I have no home run ideas for funding beyond corporate sponsors, base hits usually win games.. CityWalk should sell memberships and merchandise and open their beer garden. For any who would argue ‘entry is free so who would buy a membership?’, Birmingham Botanical Gardens offers free entry but sells many memberships. How much money does this garner for them? And Birmingham is terrible at merchandising. Over the years I’ve had to make my own T-shirts and coasters for friends and family because they are not available commercially. Visitors want to take back a bit of the place they’ve traveled to, and residents want to show off the place they call home. What better way than T-shirts, hats, shopping bags, etc.
Once again the state fails this city. Why on earth would you build anything that doesn’t have an agreed upon sustainable funding source(s). My gripe is…has all of those pretty ramps and fly-overs helped expedite traffic through the city? Hardly not since traffic ties up daily on I-65 in both directions. Whose grand idea was it not to add additional lanes 🤔 through the heavily traveled city center? Stupid is as Stupid does…to add insult to injury…no additional lanes are planned in the area as the state 3 lanes 65 from top to bottom…Why is this? gesh!