For most of my life, I have lived within five miles of Interstate 20. If I want to go somewhere outside of a ten-mile area, my trip is probably going to include, if not consist mostly of, I-20. I have often complained about the highway, and I’m probably not the only one. I can’t remember a time when there wasn’t construction going on somewhere, causing delays and traffic jams. Right now, work is underway on widening the section around Tuscaloosa to six lanes. A few years ago, a large stretch east of Birmingham had one direction at a time completely shut down for several months for resurfacing. For a few years before that, the widening of the hilly portion between Leeds and Pell City dragged on, with traffic crawling through the area. Those are just a few of the construction projects that have gone on recently. Work on replacing bridges in downtown Birmingham is planned to begin next year and is expected to cause closures for up to sixteen months. Eventually, the highway is supposed to be at least six lanes all the way across the state. We’ll probably have flying cars by then.

One of the most vital vehicle and arms storage and maintenance facilities for the US Military is located right here in Alabama. The Anniston Army Depot (ANAD), or just “The Depot” to those of us who live nearby, had its beginnings during World War II. As the war raged in Europe, the US War Department began constructing 500 ammunition storage igloos, six standard magazines (supply stores), twenty warehouses, and administrative buildings on a more than 10,000-acre plot near Anniston, Alabama, in February 1941. In October, just two months before the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, the site was officially designated Anniston Ordnance Depot, with a staff of only four. With the entry of the US into the war and the rapid increase in military production, the depot expanded to more than 15,000 acres and 4,339 employees by November 1942.