Council OKs next phase of US-31 improvements
The Hartselle City Council July 23 OK’d the next phase of improvements to US-31 giving Mayor Randy Garrison the go-ahead to sign a funding agreement with the Alabama Department of Transportation so the process can begin.
The city applied for ATRIPII funding for the project, and it was awarded earlier this year, according to Seth Burkett with ALDOT. Burkett said the first phase of the project was between Highway 36 and Sparkman Street. The project will include realigning North Sparkman Street with Highway 31 North and will allow north-bound traffic to merge onto US-31, according to Garrison.
There will also be a traffic light installed to control traffic flow on North Sparkman, US-31 and Lane Road.
Garrison said the cost of the project is unknown at this time, but ALDOT will provide $2 miliion in funding. The city will pay for engineering design outside of the state funding.
The next phase will be engineering design, which then must be approved by ALDOT and takes place in stages, the mayor added.
“We will have a better idea of the cost by then, and when the project is bid out by ALDOT we will have the actual cost,” Garrison said, adding the timeline would “hopefully” be early next year.
