Sep. 20 -- All of Decatur's main highways are on next year's schedule to receive a total of $27 million in new road surfaces by the state, officials said Wednesday at a Decatur-area Metropolitan Planning Organization meeting.
The Alabama Department of Transportation is planning to pave Beltline Road/Alabama 67, Alabama 20 and Alabama 24, while the city expects to start the Sixth Avenue/U.S. 31 streetscape.
Mayor Tab Bowling noted that the state started grading Alabama 20 just west of the Wilson Street railroad overpass Sunday night to prepare it for paving.
"It's been a while," Bowling said. "We've been waiting for this to get started, and now it will. We're very fortunate."
Bowling said they were concerned the rehabilitation of the Interstate 65 bridge would delay the paving projects, but ALDOT and city officials have been happy with the progress.
Traffic interruptions haven't been as bad as officials thought they might be with the I-65 bridge work, but they're not complete.
Rod Ellis, ALDOT North Region preconstruction engineer, estimated they're at the halfway point of the rehab. He said the contractor has been mainly working on painting the underside of the bridges.
He said they plan to do deck repairs on the top side of the northbound bridge "every weekend in October, so we'll see an impact to traffic for the next four or five weeks."
"In discussions with the contractor, we've decided to do this over weekends, so we don't impact the workday traffic. The plan is to start at 6 p.m. Friday, shut it down to one lane in the evenings and have it back open by early Monday morning before you have work traffic for the week," he said.
Ellis said deck work on the top side of the southbound bridge is complete because the repairs were smaller.
The MPO approved these state projects in Decatur on Wednesday:
-- The state plans to pave Beltline Road/Alabama 67 in two phases. Phase 1 is resurfacing the highway between Danville Road and Alabama 24 for $1.94 million, with $1.55 million in federal funding and $387,489 in state funding.
The second phase is paving the Beltline between Danville Road and Sixth Avenue Southeast/U.S. 31 for $2.5 million, with $2 million in federal money and $503,981 from the state.
-- ALDOT plans to pave Alabama 24 between the Beltline and the Morgan County line for $3.96 million, with $3.2 million in federal funding and $792,753 from the state.
-- The state plans to continue paving Alabama 20 in 2025, resurfacing the highway from Kirby Bridge Road to the Morgan County line for $4.2 million. Federal funding of $3.33 million will pay for 80% of the project with the state providing the $831,427 match.
Ellis said the state expects to approve permits "in the next week or so" for the city's $10 million beautification project of Sixth Avenue between Prospect Drive and the Hudson Memorial Bridge.
Bowling said they plan to do the Sixth Avenue project with one bid package including sidewalks and streetscape. Decatur Utilities and AT&T moved utilities underground, and Spectrum and WOW plan to do the same.
The mayor said the state approved an extension that allows the city to use a Transportation Assistance Program grant on the streetscape project.
The MPO approved just over $2 million to continue rebuilding Church Street. This portion of the project will focus on the Church Street from Somerville Road to Sixth Avenue. The city will match $1.64 million in federal funding with $410,000 in local funding for the Church Street project.
MPO Director Dewayne Hellums said ALDOT expects completion of the engineering for rebuilding Church Street Northeast between Somerville Road and Sixth Avenue in 2025 with the work beginning in 2026. The project includes $45,000 for moving utilities.
The reconstruction of Church Street started last year. The first section was from Somerville Road to Riverview Avenue at a cost of $2.33 million, with $1.86 million in federal funding covering most of the project. The Decatur-area Metropolitan Planning Organization paid for the city's match.
With a federal allocation, the MPO approved $650,000 for railroad crossing improvements at Moulton Street. Improvements include two cantilevers with LED signal flashing lights, two gates, two bells, a set of signal heads facing each bike approach, signs, markers and legends.
"It's a safety project," Hellums said. "And it looks like everything will be new."
MPO increased the estimated cost of the bridge replacement on U.S. 31 over Norfolk Southern Railway in Limestone County. Engineering increased by $131,226 to $1.38 million. The group also increased the projected construction cost by $1.89 million to $9.3 million. Hellums pointed out that they haven't sought bids yet, so this cost is just an estimate.
Ellis said plan is about 90% complete. They are working to buy one tract of permanent right of way and four temporary easements. Bidding is on the schedule for June 2025, but he said utility relocation could push the work to 2026.
MPO increased the preliminary engineering cost on the intersection improvements at Vaughn Bridge Road and U.S. 31 by $35,450 to $136,045.
Ellis said the same contractor who is paving Alabama 20 will move when finished to Alabama 24 near Lawrence County 434.
He said the resurfacing of Bethel/Cave Springs and Skidmore roads is complete.
Bowling said the Decatur causeway lighting installation could begin as early as next week.
Ellis said they're preparing for two resurfacing projects on I-65 in Morgan County for fiscal 2025. One is from the Cullman County line to just south of Alabama 36. The other is between Alabama 36 and the Tennessee River bridge.
Plans are about 30% complete on the I-65 bridge replacement in Lacon over CSX Railroad and Flint Creek, he said.
"We've been in a back-and-forth conversation with CSX about the space they would like to see from us with the new structure," Ellis said. "The alignment will be about the same, but the structure will be wider."