Sept. 20—All of Decatur’s major roads are scheduled to receive a total of $27 million in new road surfaces from the state next year, officials said Wednesday at a meeting of the Decatur-area Metropolitan Planning Organization.
The Alabama Department of Transportation plans to pave Beltline Road/Alabama 67, Alabama 20 and Alabama 24, while the city expects to begin construction on the Sixth Avenue/US 31 streetscape.
Mayor Tab Bowling noted that the state began grading Alabama 20 Sunday evening just west of the Wilson Street railroad overpass to prepare it for paving.
“It’s been a while,” Bowling said. “We’ve been waiting for this to happen, and now it’s happening. We’re very fortunate.”
Bowling said they were concerned that the Interstate 65 bridge renovation would delay paving projects, but ALDOT and city officials are pleased with the progress.
Traffic disruptions due to work on the I-65 bridge are not as severe as expected, but the work is not yet complete.
Rod Ellis, preconstruction engineer for ALDOT North Region, estimated they are halfway through the renovation. He said the contractor has been primarily painting the underside of the bridges.
He said they plan to do repairs to the deck of the northbound bridge every weekend in October. “So we’re going to have traffic disruptions for the next four or five weeks.”
“In consultation with the contractor, we decided to do this over the weekend so that we don’t disrupt work traffic. The plan is to start at 6pm on Friday, close the road to one lane in the evening and have it open again early Monday morning, before there is work traffic for the entire week,” he said.
Ellis said work on the top deck of the south bridge has been completed, as the repairs were minor.
The MPO approved these state projects Wednesday in Decatur:
—The state plans to repave Beltline Road/Alabama 67 in two phases. Phase 1 is to repave the highway between Danville Road and Alabama 24 for $1.94 million, with $1.55 million in federal funding and $387,489 in state funding.
The second phase involves paving the Beltline between Danville Road and Sixth Avenue Southeast/US 31 at a cost of $2.5 million, of which $2 million comes from the federal government and $503,981 from the state.
—ALDOT plans to pave Alabama 24 between the Beltline and the Morgan County border for $3.96 million, with $3.2 million in federal funding and $792,753 from the state.
—The state plans to continue paving Alabama 20 through 2025, repaving the highway from Kirby Bridge Road to the Morgan County border at a cost of $4.2 million. Federal funding of $3.33 million will pay for 80 percent of the project, with the state providing the $831,427 match.
Ellis said the state expects to approve permits “within the next week or so” for the city’s $10 million beautification project of Sixth Avenue between Prospect Drive and the Hudson Memorial Bridge.
Bowling said they plan to do the Sixth Avenue project with a single bid package, including sidewalks and streetscapes. Decatur Utilities and AT&T have moved utilities underground, and Spectrum and WOW plan to do the same.
The mayor said the state has approved an extension that will allow the city to use a Transportation Assistance Program grant for the street project.
The MPO has approved just over $2 million to continue rebuilding Church Street. This portion of the project will focus on Church Street from Somerville Road to Sixth Avenue. The city will match $1.64 million in federal funding with $410,000 in local funding for the Church Street project.
MPO Director Dewayne Hellums said ALDOT expects construction on Church Street Northeast between Somerville Road and Sixth Avenue to be completed in 2025, with work beginning in 2026. The project includes $45,000 for utility relocation.
The reconstruction of Church Street began last year. The first section, from Somerville Road to Riverview Avenue, cost $2.33 million, with $1.86 million in federal funding for the bulk of the project. The Decatur-area Metropolitan Planning Organization paid the city’s share.
With a federal appropriation, the MPO approved $650,000 for improvements to the railroad crossings at Moulton Street. Improvements include two cantilevers with LED signal flashers, two gates, two bells, a set of signal heads for each bike route, signs, markings and legends.
“It’s a safety project,” Hellums said. “And it looks like everything will be new.”
MPO raised the estimated cost of replacing the bridge on U.S. 31 over Norfolk Southern Railway in Limestone County. Engineering increased by $131,226 to $1.38 million. The group also raised the expected construction cost by $1.89 million to $9.3 million. Hellums pointed out that they have not yet solicited bids, so this cost is only an estimate.
Ellis said the plan is about 90 percent complete. They are working on purchasing one permanent right-of-way and four temporary easements. The bidding is scheduled for June 2025, but he said the relocation of utilities could push the work into 2026.
MPO increased the preliminary engineering costs for the improvements at the intersection of Vaughn Bridge Road and US 31 by $35,450 to $136,045.
Ellis said the same contractor who paved Alabama 20 will move to Alabama 24, just off Lawrence County 434, once it’s finished.
He said the repaving of Bethel/Cave Springs and Skidmore roads has been completed.
Bowling said installation of the Decatur Causeway lights could begin as early as next week.
Ellis said they are preparing for two repaving projects on I-65 in Morgan County for fiscal year 2025. One is from the Cullman County border to just south of Alabama 36. The other is between Alabama 36 and the bridge over the Tennessee River.
Plans to replace the I-65 bridge in Lacon over the CSX Railroad and Flint Creek are about 30% complete, he said.
“We’ve had a back-and-forth conversation with CSX about the space they’d like us to have with the new structure,” Ellis said. “The alignment will be about the same, but the structure will be wider.”
— bayne.hughes@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2432
