Jefferson County shuts down bridge on Patton Chapel Road for about 3 months

Jefferson County today shut down a bridge on Patton Chapel Road and plans to keep a portion of the road closed for almost three months while the bridge is replaced.

The bridge runs over Patton Creek in the 1600 block of Patton Chapel Road, between Gwin Elementary School and Cornwall Road.

The tentative date for reopening the bridge is June 21, but that depends heavily on the weather, said Jefferson County Deputy Manager Cal Markert.

About 18,000 vehicles travel on that stretch of road on the average day, Markert said.

The official detour route from U.S. 31 is to go south on U.S. 31, turn right onto John Hawkins Parkway, right onto Galleria Boulevard and left onto Chapel Lane, which connects back with Patton Chapel Road at Gwin Elementary.

The Hoover school system, Hoover public safety and public works departments and Santek, which provides garbage and recycling pickup, all were advised of the closing in advance so they could adjust routes for school buses, public safety and public works vehicles, and garbage and recycling trucks.

The county is both replacing and widening the bridge as part of an $11 million project to add a middle turn lane along a 1-mile stretch of Patton Chapel Road between Gwin Elementary School and Crayrich Drive.

The project also includes realigning Patton Chapel Road’s intersections with Preserve Parkway and Chapel Lane into one four-way intersection and building a 1-mile sidewalk from Crayrich Drive to an existing sidewalk near Gwin Elementary.

Utility relocation already has begun, and road widening will begin soon once a detention pond is completed, Markert said.

The new bridge will include both bicycle and pedestrian lanes, Markert said. A house on Patton Chapel Road across from the Patton Creek Condominiums was torn down this morning.

The entire project is slated to be completed by the end of 2020, but again that is contingent upon the weather, Markert said.

The project originally was expected to cost about $8 million but ended up costing about $11 million, he said. Jefferson County and Hoover each are contributing $1.25 million, and the rest is coming from the federal government.