Officials: More road construction in future

Upcoming road projects in the Shoals will concentrate on alleviating congestion in high-traffic areas and replacing obsolete bridges.

City and county government officials, as well as their engineers, realize they might not be able to do as much as they would like in the coming years because of decreasing revenue and increasing construction and maintenance costs.

Engineers such as John Bedford in Colbert County will be seeking assistance through grant programs as less and less state and federal money generated by fuel taxes finds it way back to the counties.

Despite the foreboding future, improvements will be made, officials say.

Avalon Avenue is one road in particular that is high on the lists of the mayors of Muscle Shoals, Sheffield and Tuscumbia.

The four-laning of Avalon Avenue in Tuscumbia and Sheffield is a project that tops Tuscumbia Mayor Bill Shoemaker's list of highway priorities.

The two cities share the stretch of Avalon Avenue from the Norfolk Southern Railway tracks to Montgomery Avenue, with the eastbound lane in Tuscumbia and westbound in Sheffield.

Work is already under way to add a center turn lane to Avalon Avenue east of the railroad tracks in Muscle Shoals.

Shoemaker said the Avalon Avenue project would enhance one of the biggest thoroughfares in the Shoals and assure at least four lanes from Helen Keller Hospital to the Patton Island corridor connection at Wilson Dam Road.

He and Sheffield Mayor Billy Don Anderson have lobbied state transportation officials in Montgomery for help in funding the effort.

State officials were impressed with local officials' talk about joining funding and forces on the project.

"They said they like helping cities that help themselves," Shoemaker said.

"They said they believe they'll be able to help, but don't know how much until the end of the fiscal year, so we hope to hear from them in a matter of days."

Shoemaker said the state Department of Transportation typically funds anywhere from 80 to 100 projects a month, with assistance from federal transportation money. A struggling national economy, however, combined with the need to fund wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and relief efforts on the heels of recent Gulf Coast hurricanes, are stretching dollars.

Shoemaker said state officials told him there was only enough money to fund 11 road projects across the state in August.

"The (state) highway department has a limited amount of funding, and they are constantly moving dates and changing priorities," Florence Mayor Bobby Irons said.

Irons said the Northwest Alabama Council of Local Governments has worked with the five county governments in northwest Alabama to act collectively on road projects and priorities.

"Our biggest wish is Hermitage Bridge getting replaced," said Florence City Engineer Bill Batson.

The "functionally obsolete" bridge near Florence Middle School passes over the Tennessee Southern Railroad tracks, and Railroad Avenue would also need to be widened.

Though the bridge is strong enough, Batson said its narrowness is of concern.

"We're working on getting all the documents to the state (for the project).

"Hopefully we can get some funding for this project," Batson said.

The city also will continue with Helton Drive widening from Hermitage Drive to Cox Creek Parkway.

"I don't know how that will play out with funding; that may be a while before that is complete," Batson said.

Helton Drive is undergoing utility relocation and is slated to be completed in 2012, a target date that is subject to change.

Irons said extending the dead-end College Street to Savannah Highway in West Florence was also high on the priority list.

He said the city is seeking federal funding for the future project.

"It's hard to get a business to justify their investment when just residents go through (College Street)," Irons said.

Another priority for the city is four-laning U.S. 43 and widening U.S. 72 to Shoals Creek.

Muscle Shoals Mayor David Bradford said the major priority in his city is completing the widening project at the west end of the Avalon Avenue.

The need for expansion stemmed from traffic congestion when motorists attempted to make a left turn into the Southgate Mall area.

But in the future, Bradford said they hope to expand the east end of Avalon as well as the Wilson Dam corridor. He said the project is important because it will positively affect the "tremendous" amount of traffic between Florence and Muscle Shoals.

Bradford said the state postponed the project planning.

"Our main focus is going to be for lobbying for the corridor," he said.

Like his counterparts in Muscle Shoals and Tuscumbia, Sheffield Mayor Billy Don Anderson is concerned about the section of Avalon Avenue he shares with Tuscumbia.

"That's a real important project," Anderson said.

"There will be five lanes of traffic coming into two."

Anderson said he hopes there is a way he and Shoemaker, a former DOT division engineer, can convince the state to help fund the project.

"We want to see if there's a way," Anderson said.

Sheffield also has two projects on the horizon that are being primarily funded through the Shoals Metropolitan Planning Organization.

One involves the resurfacing of Jackson Highway and moving utility poles from the edge of the roadway. The project will also involve repairing sidewalks along Jackson.

A second project involves improvements and changes along Second Street, where the roadway now flows into First Street at Dover Avenue.

The project will open Second Street to traffic at that point.

Anderson said that project would open the downtown area to traffic. Funding for both projects has already been approved by the Shoals Metropolitan Planning Organization. Sheffield will have to provide matching funds.

Lauderdale County Engineer Ken Allamel said the next big project on the horizon is replacing the bridge on Rasch Road over Little Cypress Creek.

The approximately $2 million project will involve building a longer bridge and raising the height of the roadbed to prevent the creek from flooding the roadway.

"We hope to get that going this next fiscal year," Allamel said.

The county will continue its resurfacing program, but it will be drastically cut back because of the skyrocketing cost of materials.

The county normally resurfaces about 100 miles of roadway but will be "lucky" to do half that amount this coming year, county officials say.

Preliminary work will continue on the extension of St. Florian Road, which would link Lauderdale 47 to the Florence-Lauderdale Industrial Park and alleviate congestion on Church Road.

Long-range projects include replacing the bridge on Lauderdale 16, which includes rerouting a portion of the highway.

"It's definitely a project we're going to pursue at some point," Allamel said.

Allamel said he would like to see the county replace several bridges that are posted with weight limits that prohibit school buses.

Bridges also are a high priority with Colbert County Engineer John Bedford, who hopes to utilize grant money.

"We really would like to see some turn lanes put in on River Road," Bedford said. "It's becoming a very busy road. I'd like to see the widening of River Road."

Bedford said he also would continue efforts to get financial assistance from the state DOT to replace the bridge over Rock Creek on Maud Road.

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

Shelbia Brown, Bernie Delinski and Trevor Stokes contributed to this report.