Book-Online-Hotel.com Information United States Birmingham, AL

Birmingham is located at 33°31'29" North, 86°48'46" West (33.524755, -86.812740)GR1.
Birmingham occupies Jones Valley, flanked by long parallel mountain ridges (the tailing ends of the Appalachian foothills) running from north-east to south-west. The valley is drained by small creeks (Village Creek, Valley Creek) which flow into the Black Warrior River. More importantly, the valley was bisected by the principal railroad corridor, along which most of the early manufacturing operations began.
Red Mountain lies immediately south of downtown. Birmingham's television and radio broadcast towers are lined up along this prominent ridge. The "Over the Mountain" area, including Shades Valley, Shades Mountain and beyond, was largely shielded from the industrial smoke and rough streets of the industrial city. This is the setting for Birmingham's more affluent suburbs of Mountain Brook, Homewood, Vestavia Hills, and Hoover. South of Shades Valley is the Cahaba River basin.
Sand Mountain, a smaller ridge, flanks the city to the north and divides Jones Valley from much more rugged land to the north. The Nashville Railroad">Louisville and Nashville Railroad (now CSX Transportation) enters the valley through Boyles Gap, a prominent gap in the long low ridge.
Ruffner Mountain, located due east of the heart of the city, is home to Ruffner Mountain Nature Center, one of the largest urban nature reserves in the United States.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 393.5 km² (151.9 mi²). 388.3 km² (149.9 mi²) of it is land and 5.3 km² (2.0 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 1.34% water.

Climate

Birmingham has a temperate climate characterized by warm summers, mild winters, and abundant rainfall. Birmingham has slightly less rainfall than the Gulf Coast and is slightly cooler. January sees average daily high temperatures of 53.0 °F (11.7 °C) and lows of 31.8 °F (?0.1 °C). In July the average daily high is 90.6 °F (32.6 °C) and the low is 69.2 °F (20.7 °C). The average annual temperature in Birmingham is 62 °F (17 °C). Snowfall is infrequent in the area, with a yearly average of only 0.5 inches (1 cm). The average yearly rainfall in Birmingham is about 52 inches (1330 mm), with March being the wettest month and October the driest.
The spring and fall months are pleasant but variable, but cold fronts frequently bring strong to severe thunderstorms and occasional tornadoes to the South. The fall season features less rainfall and fewer storms, as well as lower humidity than the spring, but it is also a secondary severe weather season. Birmingham is located on the heart of a tornado alley known as the Dixie Alley due to the frequency of tornadoes in Central Alabama. In late summer and fall months, Birmingham experiences occasional tropical storms and hurricanes due to its proximity to the Central Gulf Coast.

Economy

In the 1970s and 1980s, Birmingham's economy was transformed with investments in bio-technology and medical research at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and its adjacent hospital. The UAB Hospital is the only Level I trauma center in the entire 4-state area providing healthcare and breakthrough medical research. UAB is now the area's largest employer and the largest in Alabama with a workforce of about 20,000. Birmingham is also a leading banking center, serving as home to three major banking companies: AmSouth Bancorporation, Compass Bancshares and Regions Bank. SouthTrust, which also had been headquartered in Birmingham, was acquired by Wachovia in 2004. Telecommunications provider BellSouth has a major presence with several large offices in the metropolitan area. The city is also a powerhouse of construction and engineering companies. It started with Rust Engineering International and has grown to many other construction and engineering companies such as BE&K, Brasfield & Gorrie, BL Harbert International, and Dunn Construction, all of which are in the top engineering and construction companies in the world.
A 2006 Study by Bizjournals.com calculated Birmingham's "combined personal income" (the sum of all money earned by all residents of an area in a year) at $48.1 Billion. The purpose of their study was to determine which cities, based on combined personal income, would be financially able to support professional sport franchises. Birmingham was one of 30 unserved markets deemed capable of supporting a National Football League team, one of 23 capable of supporting a National Hockey League team, and one of 19 capable of supporting a National Basketball Association team. According to the study, no unserved markets have the income needed to support a new Major League Baseball team. [2]

See also List of Corporations Based or Major Presence in Birmingham

Infrastructure

Planning

Before the first structure was built in Birmingham, the plan of the city was laid out over a total of 1,160 acres (4.7 km²) by the directors of the Elyton Land Co. The streets were numbered from west to east, leaving Twentieth Street to form the central spine of downtown, anchored on the north by Capital Park and stretching into the slopes of Red Mountain to the south. A "railroad reservation" was granted through the center of the city, running east to west and zoned solely for industrial uses. As the city grew, bridges and underpasses separated the streets from the railroad bed, lending this central reservation some of the impact of a river (without the pleasant associations of a waterfront). From the start, Birmingham's streets and avenues were unusually wide at 80 to 100 feet (24 to 30 m), purportedly to help evacuate unhealthy smoke.
In the early 20th century professional planners helped lay out many of the new industrial settlements and company towns in the Birmingham District, including Corey (now Fairfield) which was developed for the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company (subsequently purchased by U. S. Steel).
The Robert Jemison company developed many residential neighborhoods to the south and west of Birmingham which are still renowned for their aesthetic quality.
Birmingham officials in November 2004 were reviewing a City Center Master Plan developed by Urban Design Associates of Pittsburgh, which advocates strongly for more residential development in the downtown area and includes a major park over several blocks of the central railroad reservation.

See also Birmingham Neighborhoods">List of Birmingham Neighborhoods

Transportation

Birmingham is served by three Interstates, Interstate 20, Interstate 65, and Interstate 59, and a southern beltway Interstate 459 and the Elton B. Stephens (Red Mountain) Expressway (U.S. Highway 31 & U.S. Highway 280). There have been some recent developments with the regional interstate system, including the construction of Corridor X (Future Interstate 22), and the planned future construction of a Northern Beltline corresponding to the existing Interstate 459. Birmingham is served by the Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority through the Metro Area Express (MAX) bus system.
Birmingham is served by Birmingham, England).
New Orleans. The Amtrak station is situated at 1819 Morris Avenue.

Utilities

The water services for Lake Logan Martin, but those plans are on hold indefinitely. Jefferson County Environmental Services serves the Birmingham metro area with sanitary sewer service.
Electric power is provided primarily by Southern Company-subsidiary, Alabama Power. However, some of the surrounding area such as Bessemer and Cullman are provided by TVA. Natural gas is provided by Alagasco. The local telecommunications are provided by BellSouth.

Other

Notable Natives

See also List of Birmingham, Alabama people

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Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham, AL (GFDL)

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