Progress report

MUSCLE SHOALS - Work on a new section of the north approach of the Patton Island bridge should be finished in about a year.- The new stretch of roadway will run from Huntsville Road, pass over Florence Boulevard and connect with Helton Drive near Hermitage Drive.

A series of ramps will connect the new section of Alabama 133 with Florence Boulevard.

Once completed, it will provide a four-, five- and seven-lane route from Florence Industrial Park to Muscle Shoals.

More precisely, the road will end about 700 feet south of the Wilson Dam Road/Avalon Avenue intersection because the completion of future projects that will ultimately take the improved road to Alabama 157 are still several years out.

"There's not anything we can do about that," Alabama Department of Transportation Division Engineer James Brown said Thursday.

Brown spoke to the board of directors of the Northwest Alabama Council of Local Governments. Board members were supposed to hear an update on transportation issues from DOT Executive Director Joe McInnis, but McInnis was unable to attend.

Instead, Brown provided an update on local highway projects.

Brown said contractors hope to complete the widening of Wilson Dam Road from River Road in Colbert County to Avalon Avenue by December.

Brown said the completion of the project from Avalon Avenue to Alabama 157 is still four to five years away.

Brown said the purchase of right-of-way on the next phase from Avalon Avenue to the Norfolk Southern Railroad overpass has just been approved.

Purchasing right-of-way could take one to two years, he said. He said the division just received approval to begin working on the section from the railroad overpass to Alabama 157.

That work would include environmental studies, surveys and drawing plans.

"It will take four to five years to get traffic on that road if funding becomes available," Brown said.

Muscle Shoals Mayor David Bradford said the city will find a way to deal with seven lanes of traffic funneling down to two at Avalon Avenue.

"I know the local (DOT) office is doing everything they can t get the project finished," Bradford said.

Though construction of the next phase remains several years down the road, Bradford said he would like to see DOT make improvements to the intersection of Wilson Dam Road and Sixth Street.

That would help the flow of traffic that is expected to increase in the area after the North American Lighting plant opens in 2007.

"Our biggest concern is that intersection down there at Sixth Street," Bradford said.

Another project that has been slowly progressing is the widening of U.S. 43 from US. 72 in Killen to the Alabama/Tennessee state line.

The DOT has approved the purchase of right-of-way from Killen to Alabama 64, Brown said.

North of Alabama 64, however, the project remains in its early stages.

It also appears that plans for a bridge linking U.S. 72 and U.S. 43 in Killen may be swapped for a signalized intersection.

Brown said the number of traffic signals in the area might do away with the need for an overpass.

Russ Corey can be reached at 740-5738 or russ.corey@timesdaily.com.