Paving timeline for Cahaba Road still unclear

Published 5:04 pm Saturday, August 3, 2013

Upcoming paving and resurfacing of Cahaba Road is not yet scheduled, but on the books to be completed sometime this year.

Selma Mayor George Evans said the repaving project is just one of several ATRIP projects scheduled for the city and Evans said while the county was granted more than $7 million in projects, he wanted to work with the county as he said he saw they had a greater need.

“We have three projects going on right now and we applied for less projects to work with the county,” Evans said. “They have such a great need for this; a greater need than we have.”

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Evans is unsure of when the next ATRIP project will start — a project that will repave Cahaba Road and Medical Center Parkway. But said once a pre-construction meeting with ALDOT is scheduled, he will know a better timeline.

While there were previous concerns about the repaving happening simultaneously with the Dallas Avenue and Valley Creek bridge replacement and detour along Cahaba Road, Evans told the council in late July he would not ask for the projects to be staggered.

The three projects set to take place in Selma include the repaving of Cahaba Road and Medical Center Parkway, the repaving of Water Avenue from Race Street towards the Cecil Jackson Bypass and the resurfacing of Lapsley Street from J.L. Chestnut Boulevard to Woodrow Avenue. The state funded $4 million for the completion of all three.

All three projects will cost the city $658,000, which is the amount matched they are required to pay.

The city applied unsuccessfully for a grant to resurface Franklin Street. After ALDOT conducted a traffic count, the road was not deemed a major thoroughfare — a minimum requirement for state funding in road projects.