84-year-old man killed in South Shades Crest Road head-on collision

An 84-year-old Pelham man was killed in a two-vehicle head-on collision on South Shades Crest Road Saturday afternoon, Hoover police said.

The crash occurred a little before 3:15 p.m. near the intersection with Eden Ridge Drive and involved a 2000 Ford Crown Victoria that was traveling west on South Shades Crest and a 2006 Honda Odyssey traveling east, police Lt. Ketih Csekleba said in a news release.

The Pelham man, who was driving the Crown Victoria, was taken to UAB Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 6:45 p.m., Czeskleba said. The driver of the Odyssey was taken to the Medical West freestanding emergency room in Hoover, where she was treated and released, he said.

Traffic officers were investigating the cause of the crash and withholding the identity of the deceased pending notification of his family.

The Alabama Department of Transportation currently is overseeing a project to realign and improve that intersection. It has been in the planning stages for more than four years. In 2013, the estimated cost of the project was $873,000, with the federal government providing 80 percent of the money and Hoover providing 20 percent.

This story was updated at 5:13 p.m. on Aug. 13 to include information about the planned improvements to the intersection near where the wreck occurred.