News

Officials, governor talk roads


By Tom Smith
Senior Staff Writer

Published: Saturday, December 9, 2006 at 3:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Saturday, December 9, 2006 at 1:29 a.m.

Rex Burleson said it never hurts to have a sit-down conversation with the governor.

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And that's exactly what a delegation of elected officials from northwest Alabama did Friday morning, with a strong focus on the topic of roads.

The Northwest Alabama Council of Local Governments arranged the meeting with Gov. Bob Riley and representatives from governments throughout the five-county region.

"It was a chance to keep him abreast of the (road) projects we believe are important for growth in northwest Alabama,'' Burleson said.

NACOLG Executive Director Keith Jones said he had tried to set up a meeting with Riley before the Nov. 7 election to discuss the area's transportation needs. But they could not agree on a suitable time.

"This was a chance to talk about key transportation projects that we believe are essential to our area,'' Jones said, noting the importance of transportation to the area's economic development future.

Projects discussed at the meeting included:

  • completion of the Patton Island corridor (Alabama 133) on the south side of the bridge to Alabama 157.

  • the need for an access road linking Colbert County to Corridor X, which is also known as Interstate 22. The road connects Birmingham to Mississippi.

  • completion of the Red Bay bypass on Alabama 24 to U.S. 78, and the completion of Corridor V from Red Bay to Russellville. Corridor V is also known as Alabama 24.

  • completion of the Alabama 13 bypass from Phil Campbell to Haleyville.

  • four-laning of U.S. 43, from U.S. 72 to the Tennessee-Alabama state line.

  • continued work on Corridor X (also known as I-22), including lighting of interchanges.

  • upgrading and widening U.S. 43 from Hamilton to Spruce Pine.

  • continued improvements on U.S. 278, from I-22 to I-65.

  • improvement on Winston 41, from Addison to Alabama 157.

  • the Haleyville bypass, which is part of the Alabama 13 replacement project.

    "We tried to go down as a unified region to discuss the projects with the governor,'' said Florence Mayor Bobby Irons. "They appreciate that when we come together as a region without 20 different groups coming there.''

    Marion County Commissioner Don Barnwell said Riley listened to the group and agreed that each of the mentioned projects was needed.

    "We just want him to understand our needs, and from the response, I think we did that,'' Barnwell said.

    Jones said each project will benefit the entire region.

    "The opinion of the NACOGL board is that these projects will improve the flow of traffic in the area and help develop potential economic sites,'' he said.

    "The governor said more than one time that they're interested in finishing projects that have been started,'' said Sheffield Mayor Billy Don Anderson.

    "I'm going to take that at face value. They don't want to start projects just to appease some people. That's been done too often.''

    Tom Smith can be reached at 740-5757 or tom.smith@timesdaily.com.


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