Above shows how much of the road has eroded in the last couple of weeks. | Courtesy of ALDOT

Northbound traffic on I-65 will be rerouted to U. S. 31 through Hartselle for approximately two weeks to allow a contractor to make repairs on an embankment two miles north of the Alabama 36 exit. That could begin as soon as Monday or Tuesday of next week.

Alabama Department of Transportation personnel put up detour signs on U.S. 31 and Alabama 36, east of Hartselle, several days ago but covered them with black plastic sheets pending start-up of repair work.

The project is scheduled for a bid opening in Montgomery on Monday and work could begin immediately providing that an acceptable bid is received, according to Darnell Spencer, an Alabama Department of Transportation spokesman who is assigned DOT’s Decatur office.

He said all northbound traffic on I-65 would be detoured around the work area.

Truck traffic approaching from the south would be detoured to U.S. 31 at the Lacon exit (318) and routed through Hartselle to Alabama 67 in Decatur and onto I-65 at the Priceville exit. Light vehicles would have the option of exiting I-65 at either the Thompson Road or Alabama 36 exits.

However, northbound traffic exiting at Alabama 36 would not be allowed to turn left and go through downtown Hartselle. Instead, it would have to turn right on 36, go to Alabama 67, turn left and reenter I-65 at Priceville.

Spencer said the project involves restoring the shoulder of the interstate about 500 feet north of a sinkhole that occurred under the interstate in March 2010.

“Heavy rainfall over the past several weeks has caused the shoulder slope to deteriorate and cause cracks to occur on the outside edge of the northbound lanes,”

The repair is expected to last two weeks.