State to hold informal public meeting on Alabama 150 widening project Friday

The Alabama Department of Transportation on Friday plans to give an informal presentation at the Hoover Municipal Center about the planned widening of part of Alabama 150 near Deer Valley and Lake Cyrus.

The meeting is scheduled from 4 to 5 p.m. in the City Council conference room behind the council chambers.

Blake Miller, an ALDOT pre-construction operations engineer for the Birmingham area,  said he’ll provide an update on the plan and field questions from anyone who is interested.

The plan is to widen Alabama 150 to five lanes between Shades Crest Road and the entrance to the Lake Cyrus subdivision. The widening is part of a project to replace two bridges over Shades Creek and a railroad track. It could cost anywhere from $12 million to $20 million, Miller said.

The state plans to seek bids on the construction work in February and award the project on Feb. 24, he said.

Alabama 150 has at least five lanes between its origin at U.S. 31 and a point just west of Shades Crest Road, around Whisperwood Drive. It then tapers down to two or three lanes, headed down a hill toward Ross Bridge, Lake Cyrus and Bessemer.

The state plans to extend the five lanes all the way to the entrance of Lake Cyrus, covering a little less than a mile, Miller said. The two old bridges will be replaced by a single bridge that is about 950 feet long, he said.

Once construction begins, the project should take about two years to complete, officials said.

The Hoover City Council on Sept. 19 agreed to chip in $150,000 to add a second left-turn lane from Ross Bridge Parkway onto Alabama 150 in conjunction with the widening project. Traffic backs up significantly on Ross Bridge Parkway, and the widening project will add a second eastbound lane on Alabama 150 to accept the traffic from Ross Bridge, said Tim Westhoven, the city’s assistant executive director.

The Hoover City Council also voted to chip in another $100,000 as incentive money for the state’s contractor to handle the part of the widening project near Ross Bridge Parkway first.

Lance Taylor, an assistant region engineer for ALDOT’s east central region office, said the new bridge will be built to the side of the current ones, so there should be minimal disruptions to traffic during construction. In the area closer to Ross Bridge Parkway and the Whisperwood Townhomes, drivers likely will experience some narrow lanes, he said.