How did you get where you needed to go today?

For most people in Birmingham, the answer is simple: by car. And for many, that journey runs through a single thoroughway—U.S. Highway 280. It’s the corridor that connects neighborhoods to downtown, suburbs to the city, and for thousands of residents, it’s the thread that holds their day together.

In this episode of Connections, host Ebony Flake speaks with Julie Ross Senter, a longtime Birmingham resident whose daily routine is shaped by life along Highway 280. From school drop-offs to commuting into the city, Julie shares what it means to navigate one of the region’s most heavily traveled corridors.

Highway 280 carries the daily movement of people, families, and routines across the region. Through goBHM’s multimodal transportation plan, the city is creating more options so that, over time, fewer trips depend on a single road. Because when walking, transit, biking, and driving work together, it doesn’t just change how people get around—it helps ease the load on the roads everyone depends on.

Connections is goBHM’s official podcast, produced in partnership with the Birmingham Department of Transportation (BDOT) and the Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority (BJCTA) as part of the Multimodal Transportation Plan.

Produced, written, and hosted by Ebony Flake.

With field Production by Jehme Pruitt.

Learn more about goBHM at www.letsgobhm.com

Before someone decides to move to a city, there’s a quieter question beneath the job offer: Can I actually see a life for myself here?

In this episode of Connections, host Ebony Flake speaks with Valerie Collins Thomas, founder of The VAL Group, a Birmingham-based concierge service that curates high-touch experiences for visiting physicians, executives, and business leaders. With only a short window to make life-changing decisions, many of the recruits she works with rely on Valerie to help them move beyond perception—designing experiences that reflect what daily life in Birmingham can actually feel like.

Valerie shares her own journey to the city, arriving with hesitation shaped by history and perception—and how that experience became the foundation for her work. She also reflects on how movement—how easy it is to get around, how connected the city feels—can shape whether someone ultimately chooses to stay.

Connections is goBHM’s official podcast, produced in partnership with the Birmingham Department of Transportation (BDOT) and the Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority (BJCTA) as part of the Multimodal Transportation Plan.

Produced, written, and hosted by Ebony Flake.

Field Production by Jehme Pruitt.

Learn more about the goBHM Multimodal Transportation Project at www.letsgobhm.com

There’s a certain energy to a city when movement feels easy, when you can walk to work, bike home past busy patios, or catch a bus without second-guessing it. It’s the kind of energy that comes from proximity, from moving through shared spaces instead of past them.

In this episode of Connections, host Ebony Flake walks the Rotary Trail with Jackson Dean, a downtown Birmingham resident whose daily routine blends walking, biking, transit, and, when needed, driving. For him, mobility means living in a place where multiple options work together.

James Fowler, Chief of Public Infrastructure for the City of Birmingham, adds perspective on how goBHM’s Multimodal Transportation Plan is aligning sidewalks, trails, and transit across Birmingham’s 99 neighborhoods, expanding walkable centers and strengthening connections throughout the city.

Connections is goBHM’s official podcast, produced in partnership with the Birmingham Department of Transportation (BDOT) and the Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority (BJCTA) as part of the Multimodal Transportation Plan.

Produced, written, and hosted by Ebony Flake.

Field Production by Jehme Pruitt. 

This episode explores how downtown Birmingham offers a glimpse of what connected, multimodal movement can feel like — and how goBHM’s Multimodal Transportation Plan is working to strengthen connections across the city’s 99 neighborhoods.

Learn more about the goBHM Multimodal Transportation Project at www.letsgobhm.com

In this episode of Connections, host Ebony Flake sits down with Nakisha Adams, a lifelong Birmingham resident whose experience navigating the city is shaped by accessibility at every turn.

Nakisha uses a wheelchair and relies on fixed-route buses and paratransit to move through daily life. For her, transportation isn’t just a convenience—it’s a lifeline to work, healthcare, community, and independence. She shares what it takes to plan each trip, from navigating broken sidewalks and missing curb cuts to scheduling paratransit weeks in advance and building her life around service availability.

With added insight from Courtney Hertlein of United Ability, the conversation widens to examine what it truly means to move through Birmingham when accessibility determines every choice. Together, the episode explores how systems built by the Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority and the Birmingham Department of Transportation shape dignity and autonomy—and why accessible transit remains a civil rights issue rooted in the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Because transportation isn’t just about getting around. It’s access to life.

Connections is goBHM’s official podcast, produced in partnership with the Birmingham Department of Transportation (BDOT) and the Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority (BJCTA) as part of the Multimodal Transportation Plan.

Produced, written, and hosted by: Ebony Flake

In this episode of Connections, host Ebony Flake sits down with James Fowler, the City of Birmingham’s Chief of Public Infrastructure, to explore how a city long shaped by the automobile is beginning to think differently about movement.

Birmingham is one of the most auto-dependent regions in the country — not because of a single decision, but because of decades of gradual planning choices that prioritized speed and drivability. James reflects on how those choices reshaped daily life, and why expanding transportation options can improve health, access, and overall quality of life.

The conversation traces James’s own path — from growing up in the suburbs and spending time downtown as a child, to studying civil engineering and later discovering what transportation could be while working in Atlanta. That experience shaped his approach to planning in Birmingham: not as one system, but as a set of choices that must work together.

Together, Ebony and James explore what building a more connected transportation system looks like in practice — strengthening walkable neighborhood centers, reclaiming comfort in historic urban villages like Woodlawn and North Birmingham, and designing places where people of all ages feel safe moving through their communities.

Connections is goBHM’s official podcast, produced in partnership with the Birmingham Department of Transportation (BDOT) and the Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority (BJCTA) as part of the Multimodal Transportation Plan.

Produced, written, and hosted by: Ebony Flake

Learn more about the goBHM Connectivity Project at www.letsgobhm.com

How a city moves shapes more than the commute — it influences access, opportunity, and daily life. In this season preview of Connections, we introduce the vision behind the podcast and the stories you’ll hear throughout the series.

Through the voices of Birmingham residents and city leaders — including Angel Holloway, Timothy Miller, and James Fowler of the Birmingham Department of Transportation — this episode sets the tone for conversations about movement, access, and what it means to navigate a city in motion.

Connections is a podcast from goBHM exploring how Birmingham moves — and the people who move it.

Connections is goBHM’s official podcast, produced in partnership with the Birmingham Department of Transportation (BDOT) and the Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority (BJCTA) as part of the Multimodal Transportation Plan.

Produced, written, and hosted by: Ebony Flake

Learn more about the goBHM Multimodal Transportation Plan Project at www.letsgobhm.com