Cities already seeing benefits

"Having multi-lane highways is critical (to industrial recruiting)," said Forrest Wright, executive director of the Shoals Economic Development Authority.

He has seen the Shoals removed from consideration for many industrial projects because of its lack of an interstate or four-laned access to areas south.

Quality of roads is one of the first subjects addressed by site selection teams that represent large corporations looking to expand, Wright said. They have to determine how easy is it to get their products from Point A to Point B, according to Wright and others involved in economic development.

"The smooth flow of goods is crucial because time is money," Wright said. "When a product is on the road and being transported, it's not making a profit and it's not being sold."

The four-lane highway will provide easy access to the Shoals for trucks traveling from Birmingham and other points south.

Neal Wade, executive director of the Alabama Development Office, said the completion of the Alabama 157 widening project will aid economic development efforts throughout northwest Alabama.

He said industrial recruiters have difficulties landing projects when there is insufficient four-lane access to an area.

"A lot of projects that come in specify that you have to have four-lane access," Wade said. "It gives economic development folks another strong argument to give to companies looking to locate in the Shoals."

Muscle Shoals Mayor David Bradford said an improved Alabama 157 will definitely be a great asset in industrial recruitment.

"It's going to be our lifeline to the interstate," Bradford said.

He said the community will market Alabama 157 as a major four-lane route from the Shoals to I-65 and points south.

Wade said the widened road will benefit other areas, such as Russellville, which now has four-lane access to Birmingham and points south. Alabama 157 can now carry motorists to Moulton, where they can hook up with Alabama 24, which is now four-laned to Russellville.

Peggy Smith, director of the Cullman County Economic Development Agency, said the roadway has already had a positive economic impact on the area just west of Cullman, with several manufacturing and other businesses opening operations in recent years.

"Anytime a major corridor is expanded and widened, it just opens up additional economic development opportunities for us," Smith said. "We've definitely seen our growth expand to the west with the improvements to 157."

Completing the Alabama 157 project will have more than just a positive impact on industrial recruiting, officials said. The retail industry also will keep a close look at the area for potential development, business leaders say.

Shoals Chamber of Commerce President Steve Holt said as each section of Alabama 157 has been completed, it has reduced the amount of time it takes to get to I-65.

Holt said the project's completion provides another improved artery to get traffic to and from the Shoals.

"It's an easier way to get here and a quicker way to get here," Holt said. "A four-lane highway is an image and a mindset."

He said the four-laned Alabama 157 provides an image that the region has a strong capability to move people and products. Holt said that perception is important to businesses looking to invest in the area.

"In the long run, this is going to open more avenues for traffic," said Vickie Morese, executive director of the Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce. "The number one thing retail looks at is traffic counts and population, and, in certain instances, drive time."

Alabama 157 - the main artery linking the Shoals, Moulton and Cullman - is already seeing an increase in the number of motorists.

Moulton Mayor Ray Alexander said traffic on Alabama 157 continues to increase. He said the highway, just the section through his city, carries about 13,140 vehicles per day, a number he expects will increase now that the project is completed.

Alexander said improvements to Alabama 157 have already had a positive effect on Moulton's economy. For example, Wal-Mart left its former site on Alabama 157 and built a Wal-Mart Supercenter at the intersection of Alabama 157 and Alabama 24, a heavily traveled route between Russellville and Decatur.

The mayor also said the highway improvements helped the city convince a trucking company, W.H. Holdings, to open in Moulton. The company will serve clients throughout the Southeast from its Moulton hub.

More traffic on Alabama 157 has translated to more businesses springing up almost overnight along the highway in Moulton, including many fast-food and sit-down restaurants. More hotels also have come to the strip.

"Opening up this four lane is going to really assist me in being able to go out to retail developers and businesses and say, 'it's easier to get to your business or get to this location' because now it's a four lane," Morese said.

The completed highway also will affect tourism.

Florence-Lauderdale Tourism Director Debbie Wilson said Alabama 157 is a highway of "phenomenal importance" to the Shoals.

"Rarely have we had complaints like we had when it was all two lanes," Wilson said. "It definitely has an impact on tourism."

Wilson said the Shoals gets many visitors from the Atlanta and Birmingham markets.

"The Marriott is getting a lot of traffic from Birmingham," she said.

And then there are the golfers who are driving to the Shoals to play the two Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail courses in Colbert County.

She said some visitors from Mississippi come to the Shoals through Birmingham and Tuscaloosa because the roads are better.

"It will help us," said Susann Hamlin, executive director of the Colbert County Tourism & Convention Bureau. "It has helped us since it's been almost finished."

Hamlin said tour bus operators prefer not to travel on two-lane roads, which require vehicles to travel slower and bring a greater risk of collisions.

"It's the perception, as much as anything, that they can get here much more quickly," Hamlin said. "It will make a big difference."

She said there is also the perception that improved roadways demonstrate that an area is trying to improve itself.

Tourism officials in both counties have been told in the past that tourists would like to see Helen Keller's birthplace, Ivy Green, the Alabama Music Hall of Fame, local music recording studios and numerous other attractions, but there's no good way to get there.

That perception, at least over time, will change, tourism officials say.

Battleground in Cullman County, named after activities related to the Civil War, was one of the original four-laned sections of Alabama 157.

Connie Griffin, who works at Battleground's Jet Pep variety store, said she has noticed more business and more traffic since the four-laning project has progressed.

"There are tour buses going through here all the time," Griffin said, referring mainly to the Memphis-to-Atlanta crowd.

Griffin characterized Battleground as a close-knit community, but "now there are traveling people."

"You can see it changing every month now," Griffin said.

State trooper spokesman Paul Mashburn said widening a roadway like Alabama 157 helps reduce the problems of drivers following too closely and other safety issues.

"Not to say we don't still have tailgating, but it helps to alleviate some of that," Mashburn said.

The additional lanes also make it safer to pass slower vehicles, he said, and safer for the law enforcement officers who must patrol it.

"It does make travel generally safer," Mashburn said. "Four-laning and improvements to the road shoulder makes it easier to conduct patrol operations."

Truck drivers, who often use Alabama 157 when traveling from Memphis, Tenn., to Atlanta, says it's a safer road with four lanes.

Marlon Webb, a long-haul truck driver of 40 years, said four-lane highways are simply safer that two-lane roads.

"There are better lines of sight," the Guin-based trucker said.

On a two-lane road, there's no room for error, according to Webb. There's very little room to avoid a vehicle, and if you have to leave the road to do so, the truck will most likely be wrecked.

Webb said he has avoided Alabama 157 as a route to the Shoals from the Cullman area and instead continued north on I-65 to the U.S. 72 exit at Athens.

Don Holmes, owner of Holmes Transportation in Florence, said having four-lane roads eliminates the opportunity for most head-on collisions.

"Head-on accidents are always going to be extremely brutal when you involve a tractor-trailer," Holmes said. "It doesn't matter whose fault it is; it's going to be a bad situation."

For Holmes' trucking company, the biggest impact of a widened Alabama 157 will be increased trips to Atlanta, he said.

"Primarily, the four-laning of 157 has made any transportation we do to the south and east 15 or 20 minutes faster, but the big thing is it's much, much safer," Holmes said.

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