Study: Extra lane on South Shades Crest to improve traffic flow

A $3 million plan to add a second northbound lane on part of South Shades Crest Road should improve traffic flow at two intersections from D and F grades to a B, according to a new traffic study done for the city of Hoover.

The plan is to add a second northbound lane on South Shades Crest from Eden Ridge Drive and Shades Run Circle all the way to Alabama 150, City Engineer Rodney Long said.

That should cut the theoretical travel time to get from Willow Lake Drive to Alabama 150 during the peak traffic hour by 33 percent, according to a study done by the Volkert engineering firm.

Right now, it theoretically takes vehicles 3 minutes and 52 seconds to travel that distance — about 9/10 of a mile — during the peak travel time, according to the study. But with the planned improvements, the theoretical travel time would be reduced to 2 minutes and 35 seconds, the study indicates.

Actual average travel times are much harder to pinpoint due to variations in traffic patterns, Long said.

But traffic bottlenecks on South Shades Crest and feeder roads have long been a sore subject with residents, particularly when morning work commuters combine with school traffic. Afternoon and evening traffic also can get congested.

“It is frustrating, I think, for people trying to get to work and school,” said Karen Apel, president of the Russet Woods/Southwood Homeowners Association. “To begin and end your day that way, it’s a difficult time to be frustrated.”

City officials understand the severity of the problem, Long said. That’s why they chose to bypass the traditional process of seeking federal money for the road project.

For most multimillion-dollar road projects, the city goes after money from the Federal Highway Administration, which will pay 80 percent of the cost for projects approved by the Birmingham Metropolitan Planning Organization. But with that federal money often comes an extensive and time-consuming review process by the Alabama Department of Transportation, which administers federal money.

“If we wait on federal dollars, we’re talking at least a five- or 10-year delay. You’ve got to wait in line to get your funding,” Long said. “Because of the severity of this problem, the city is trying to do it out of its own pocket.”

Finding the money

The Hoover City Council put $1.5 million in its fiscal 2018 budget for this project. City officials are hoping Jefferson County will assist with the other estimated $1.5 million that is needed, City Administrator Allan Rice said.

Jefferson County officials were amenable to helping but did not have the money for 2018, he said. City officials are hopeful money from the county will be available in 2019, when the project should be ready for construction, Rice said.

Right now, the traffic study has been completed, and design work for the lane addition should start soon once contract details are ironed out, Long said.

Also, construction should begin soon on a long-planned road project to realign and improve the intersection of South Shades Crest and Eden Ridge Drive so that Eden Ridge and Shades Run Circle are directly across from one another where they meet South Shades Crest, Long said.

That project was delayed after officials discovered a water main was in the way, but it should restart soon, he said.

The plan for the new widening project is to start the second northbound lane at Shades Run Circle, Long said.

Several options were considered for the busy intersection at Willow Lake Drive, which feeds into the driveway for South Shades Crest Elementary School, but engineers and city official prefer an option that allows for one of the northbound lanes on South Shades Crest to continue moving at all times, separated from traffic coming from Willow Lake Drive by a concrete barrier.

That option also is less expensive because it will not require the addition of a second left-turn lane off Willow Lake Drive, Long said.

The intersection of South Shades Crest Road and Willow Lake Drive should improve from an F rating, which Long said means “intolerable,” to a B rating, or “very good,” according to the study by Volkert. The intersection of South Shades Crest with Brock’s Gap Parkway would improve from a D rating, which Long said means “a little more than desired delay,” to a B rating.

The addition of a second northbound lane would not require expansion of the bridge over Interstate 459 but would require an expansion of the bridge over the CSX railroad tracks, Long said. Due to the poor rating of the existing bridge over the railroad tracks, it likely would be replaced entirely, he said.

Further north, the project also would double the length of the second left-turn lane coming from Alabama 150 to allow more traffic to get through that intersection in a given traffic light cycle, Long said.

2ND and 3RD phases

In the future, a second phase of the South Shades Crest Road widening would extend the second northbound lane an additional 2,250 feet back to Russet Woods Drive, which is the main connection with the Russet Woods community, Long said. Adding a traffic signal at Eden Ridge Drive is also recommended as part of Phase 2.

The preliminary cost for Phase 2 is estimated to be $1.2 million, and no money has yet been set aside for that, Long said.

Even further in the future, a Phase 3 would involve creating a second southbound lane, starting at Alabama 150 and going at least to Russet Woods Drive. Northbound and southbound traffic would be separated by a concrete median, with breaks for left turns at Brock’s Gap Parkway, Willow Lake Drive and Eden Ridge Drive/Shades Run Circle.

Phase 3 also would require expansion of the bridge over I-459, which would be costly due to the height of the bridge and the potential for having to temporarily reroute some interstate traffic during construction, Long said.

The preliminary cost estimate for Phase 3 is $12.7 million, according to Volkert.

However, Phase 3 would not happen for a long time, and those plans could change substantially if the city is successful in getting a new I-459 interchange created just south of South Shades Crest Road.

During former Mayor Tony Petelos’ administration, the Federal Highway Administration in May 2010 approved an interchange justification study submitted by the city, but subsequent Mayor Gary Ivey did not see the interchange as a priority and withdrew his support of the city providing matching funds for federal highway dollars.

Current Mayor Frank Brocato reinitiated support for the interchange and wants to get the project back in the pipeline for design and construction. However, due to the time lapse, the city will have to conduct another interchange justification study and submit it to the Federal Highway Administration for approval again, Long said. 

The city now is trying to get federal dollars allocated for that study, he said.

City officials estimate that a new I-459 interchange would shift 6,000 vehicles a day off Alabama 150 and dramatically change traffic flows on South Shades Crest Road, particularly north of Brock’s Gap Parkway.

If the interchange comes about, South Shades Crest Road may not need the additional southbound lane north of Brock’s Gap Parkway or the widening of the South Shades Crest Road bridge over I-459, Long said. That’s because the primary traffic flows would be to and from the interstate instead, he said.

When previous studies were done, the cost of an interstate interchange was estimated at $40 million to $50 million, and it certainly would cost more now, Rice has said.