[ajfroggie]

Okay...quick lesson in Congressional funding: the second article is the only one that has gone through, and given the topography around Birmingham, $25 million won't buy you much, especially when it's being split with Corridor X.

The first and third articles you cited are for the transportation reauthorization bill, which *STILL* hasn't fully gone through Congress and to the President yet. That money DOES NOT EXIST at the present. Furthermore, since it's from the same bill, the numbers in the first article supercede the numbers in the third article. You will not get both together.

And if Bush vetoes the bill like he's been threatening to do unless Congress lowers the total dollar amount, all bets are off...

Finally, even if funding is found for the Northern Beltline, you still have the matters of final design and ROW purchase I cited earlier which have not been completed yet.