Slow progress

The Patton Island bridge that links Colbert and Lauderdale counties over the Tennessee River will remain little more than a scenic byway until sometime next year.

Alabama Department of Transportation officials say the northern approach to Helton Drive should be finished sometime in 2007, while work on the southern approach to Avalon Avenue should be completed in December.

But the southern portion of the route won't connect to Alabama 157 -- as planned -- for several more years.

The local division of the ADOT has only just gotten approval to begin buying right-of-way to the Norfolk Southern Railroad overpass, about two miles south of Avalon. That could take two years. The last leg of the route, to Alabama 157, is just entering the design stage. Provided funding is available, it will be another four to five years before the corridor is fully open.

What's happening with the Patton Island corridor is, sadly, typical of highway projects in Alabama. Grand plans are made, money is secured for a portion of the work, then, work stops. The lack of follow-through on major projects is frustrating.

Other major highway projects in the Shoals area are moving at an equally erratic pace. The replacement of bridges over Shoal Creek is taking far too long. ADOT officials also say the overpass just east of the new bridge, which would connect to U.S. 43, probably will be scrapped in favor of a signaled intersection. That's just what this community needs: more traffic signals.

The four-laning of U.S. 43 from Killen (where the overpass from Shoal Creek may or may not be built) to the Tennessee state line also seems to have fallen through the cracks at ADOT. The state has approved buying right-of-way north to Alabama 64, but it will be years before the work if completed. The remainder of the widening project is in the "early stages" according to officials. That's ADOT's way of saying, "don't call us; we'll call you."

Meanwhile, Tennessee is almost finished with its widening on U.S. 43.

The state Department of Transportation is controlled by the governor's office and has traditionally been a powerful tool for keeping legislators in line. Gov. Bob Riley has shown some consistency in managing projects through his transportation director, but he should follow through on a campaign promise he made four years ago to create a transportation commission that would remove some of the politics from highway projects.