Construction to start soon on major Trace Crossings intersection
Traffic on Stadium Trace Parkway is about to get more interesting.
The Alabama Department of Transportation is about to begin a $2 million project to improve the road’s intersection with Brock’s Gap Parkway and Learning Lane.
Construction is expected to begin in late November or December and should take about nine months to complete, City Engineer Rodney Long said.
The work will include:
► Adding a right turn lane from northbound Stadium Trace Parkway onto Learning Lane.
► Adding a second through lane from Learning Lane to Brock’s Gap Parkway.
► Adding a second through lane from Brock’s Gap Parkway to Learning Lane.
► Lengthening the two left turn lanes from southbound Stadium Trace Parkway onto Learning Lane.
► Straightening the southbound section of Stadium Trace Parkway that currently has some shifting of the lanes.
► Raising the elevation of Stadium Trace Parkway to better fit the elevation of Learning Lane and Brock’s Parkway, allowing for a smoother and more efficient flow of traffic.
► Altering the median just north of the intersection, to allow traffic from the Village at Brock’s Gap to turn north onto Stadium Trace Parkway but not allow northbound traffic to turn left into the Village at Brock’s Gap.
► Adding a left turn lane on Brock’s Gap Parkway into the Village at Brock’s Gap.
► Closing a current median opening on Brock’s Gap Parkway (closer to Stadium Trace Parkway) to prevent cross-traffic there.
Long said the intersection of Stadium Trace Parkway, Brock’s Gap Parkway and Learning Lane is already a very busy intersection, handling traffic for all the subdivisions off Brock’s Gap Parkway, Hoover High School, Trace Crossings Elementary School, Bumpus Middle School, events at the Hoover Metropolitan Complex, businesses just south of the Hoover Met and — more recently — traffic from the new Lake Wilborn and Blackridge communities.
Traffic counts conducted for the city showed that about 20,000 vehicles passed through that intersection in 2013, and the number has surely increased since then as more houses have been built, Long said.
The intersection is only going to get busier as more than 1,500 additional homes are built in Lake Wilborn, Blackridge, Flemming Farms and Abingdon on land south of the stadium. Plus, traffic will increase as a result of the ongoing expansion of the Hoover Metropolitan Complex. Five new football/soccer/lacrosse fields, 16 tennis courts, a playground and splash pad are still under construction.
And 24 acres along Stadium Trace Parkway across from the Hoover Met are slated for commercial development.
City officials identified some of the imperfections of that busy intersection and are trying to improve its ability to carry traffic more efficiently, Long said.
Engineers had to take into account the existing traffic on a routine day, expected additional daily traffic due to residential growth and expansion at the Met, traffic from large events at the Met Complex and traffic from the Village at Brock’s Gap, he said. However, the Village at Brock’s Gap is small enough that it shouldn’t have a major impact on the intersection, Long said.
The $2 million cost includes a $1.87 million construction contract with Cornerstone Civil Contractors, plus money for engineering, Long said. The federal government is picking up 80 percent of the tab, and Hoover is paying the rest, he said.
The timing of the road construction is good because it should avoid most, if not all, of football season traffic, Long said. Also, no lane closures will be allowed during the week of the SEC Baseball Tournament, he said.
Four-lane divided roads such as Stadium Trace Parkway in theory are designed to handle about 33,000 vehicles per day, Long said. Traffic counts in 2016 showed about 16,000 vehicles per day, so there still is plenty of capacity in theory, but intersection measurements are a better barometer, he said.