What's next for other area roads?

The first leg of that project will begin in 2009, but the state Department of Transportation has pushed the remainder of the project to 2014.

There's one problem - money.

There's not enough money in the state transportation department's budget to handle these or similar projects statewide. Road projects have to wait their turn. As seen with the Alabama 157 project, that can take quite awhile.

"Highway department funds are being depleted by the cost of construction," said state Sen. Bobby Denton, D-Muscle Shoals.

Muscle Shoals Mayor David Bradford called the completion of the four-lane Alabama 157 "huge for the entire area," but agreed efforts should now be concentrated on completing the Patton Island bridge corridor and widening U.S. 43 to the Alabama-Tennessee line.

"We need to look at things that are going to be completed within a 10-year period," Bradford said.

Then there are smaller projects, such as adding a third lane to U.S. 72 from the Indian Springs subdivision in Florence to the Shoal Creek bridge, and adding a fifth lane to Helton Drive from Hermitage Drive to Cox Creek Parkway in Florence. These projects, like others, have been pushed back because of reduced transportation money.

Jesse Turner, transportation planning director for the Northwest Alabama Council of Local Governments, said a link from the Shoals to I-65 is number one in terms of long-term projects being sought by government officials in the Shoals.

"That's what the leaders here are pushing," he said.

Transportation officials are developing a plan for a 14.5-mile interstate link from I-65 to Alabama 20, near Hillsboro. The price tag, however, is estimated at a whopping $550 million.

Bradford said that project would help the Shoals eliminate the stigma of not having immediate interstate access, which has been held against the area in industrial recruitment.

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