Plans to plane, resurface and stripe a strip of U.S. Highway 80 are in the works. The bid for the project is out and a spokesman for the Alabama Department of Transportation says that bid process will close July 27.

ALDOT spokesman Tony Harris said this means that after a bid review process following July 27, he estimates the construction project to begin sometime around mid-September or early October.

“This is a routine resurfacing project that is necessary from time to time, on any road way,” Harris said.

He explained the process of planning and resurfacing generally occurs every eight to 12 years on roads, depending on wear and tear of that road.

“This stretch of Highway 80 is due for a resurfacing project,” Harris said.

The 6.3-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 80 is between the intersection of Alabama Highway 41 and Soapstone Creek. Harris said because it is a 4-lane section of the highway, typically during construction, one lane will be closed and traffic can detour around it.

“Typically you will not close more than one mile at a time out of the six miles that are being worked on,” Harris said.

The bid requires the entire project to be completed in 100 working days, and Harris said that translates into somewhere around 10 months in real time. Harris said working days do not include weekends, rain days or holidays.

“There will be no nighttime work,” Harris said. “We usually consider with traffic the best times of the day to do the work.”

Three things will happen to the road during this project. Planing is a process in which a large machine grinds and grates the existing worn roadway. Following this the pavement will get, in most cases, several layers of new pavement, then fresh paint stripes on the shoulder and in the middle.