When the city of Huntsville requested input about its BIG Picture Master Plan a couple of months ago, Manager of Long-Range and Urban Planning Dennis Madsen expected the traditional requests.

He expected residents to want more road improvements. And the master plan that was crafted in 2018 has served as a guide with the city embarking on more than $500 million worth of infrastructure projects. And Madsen said there has been some of that.

“A lot of the feedback has been around making sure we emphasize infrastructure and making sure that investments continue to be made,” he said. “But for a lot of folks, it’s not just about traditional infrastructure and roads. There’s also been a lot of people asking about how we can implement transit in the future, even if it is not happening today.”

Madsen said the number of people coming out in favor of major changes to the transit system came as somewhat of a surprise to city officials.

“This community, our traffic moves fairly well relative to other regions,” he said. “We do have traffic peaks and areas that snarl. But for the most part, we move cars fairly well. In a community like that, it’s not as common to see a push for transit.”