HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Huntsville is growing in record numbers, but that also means traffic is inevitable, but the city has plans to fix one busy intersection, but it going to take a while to be completed. "A project like this will subtract a lot of that traffic from the intersection because they're going to be on the overpass going over the intersection," Seth Burkett, Public Information Officer for the Alabama Department of Transportation said. "Your intersection is going to have much less traffic to handle, and it will improve the functionality of the intersection greatly."
The Alabama Department of Transportation advises motorists that construction will start next week on a $34 million, multi-year project to add an overpass and service roads on U.S. 231/U.S. 431 at Mastin Lake Road, extending the North Memorial Parkway expressway to south of Winchester Road.
Weather permitting, contractor Rogers Group anticipates beginning work Monday, June 19. "This is a project to extend the expressway portion of Memorial Parkway that runs through the center of Huntsville," Burkett explained. "It's going to take it a little further north, almost to Winchester Road. It will involve an overpass at Marston Lake Road and extension of the service roads. So basically, construction of service roads and a mainline with an overpass."
The project comes as a part of a 50/50 agreement between ALDOT and the city of Huntsville. "We have a large cost sharing agreement that we've been working on for years now where we're doing major projects and kind of sharing the cost of them," Burkett explained. "It was one that was identified as a priority to deal with in this first cost sharing agreement that we've done. We also did overpasses down on South Memorial Parkway. This project, of course, is going to benefit the public by improving traffic flow on North Memorial Parkway."
Initially, the contractor will install temporary barriers along the outer (east) side of the northbound roadway, reducing it to two lanes for northbound traffic from Mastin Lake Road to the Stallworth Road entrance to Alabama A&M University. "The contractor, Rogers Group, anticipates moving in on Monday, beginning staging some of their equipment, getting ready and they could begin installing temporary barrier rail as early as Monday," Burkett said.
Motorists are advised to expect delays and drive with caution in the two-mile work zone. During the first phase of the project, traffic will be shifted to the inside lanes of the existing roadway for construction of northbound and southbound service roads. " You know, a project like this, you can't do it without some short-term pain and inconvenience," Burkett explained. "This is going to be a long project time wise. It's probably going to last three years or more. So, the public does need to be prepared for lane reductions, lane shifts, and just traveling slower, you know, on the whole through this work zone and remaining cautious of any changes that might occur."
During the second phase, traffic will be shifted to the newly-constructed service roads while the overpass and mainline are constructed in the center.
The project is anticipated to take more than three years to complete.