Photo by Caroline Miller
Chesser Drive in Chelsea, Alabama, is slated to be repaved in 2027.
The Chelsea City Council on Tuesday night voted to approve a 2027 transportation plan with at least $34 million worth of projects, but most of the projects are more of a wish list than projects that are likely to happen anytime soon, if at all, Mayor Cody Sumners said.
The largest is a proposed bridge over railroad tracks near Chelsea City Hall. The transportation plan estimated that project would cost $30 million, but Sumners said it likely would cost more in the range of $50 million and said the likelihood the bridge will actually be constructed is “zero to none.”
But there is a need for the bridge, Sumners said.
“The real issue is that people are inconvenienced by the train coming through that comes here pretty regularly on Chelsea Road at City Hall,” he said. “So especially during high traffic time, during the morning for school traffic and in the afternoon school traffic and in the evenings when people are coming home from work, they may have to wait an additional three to five minutes or so while the train comes through, and so it’s just an inconvenience.”
There are three projects in the 2027 transportation plan that are indeed expected to happen in the next 12 to 18 months, Sumners said.
Two of them involve a 5,500-foot pedestrian path on Chesser Drive and a repaving of that road. The total cost is estimated to be close to $3 million, and the city has grants totaling $2.4 million to complete them, Sumners said.
“That’s going to be up in front of Station 31,” the mayor said. “We’re going to be putting in sidewalks that will connect basically from AIM Academy all the way down to where the sidewalks are at Tractor Supply and adding curves and gutters and repaving that road.”
The road needs to be repaved anyway, but the project also will help address some drainage issues that have caused problems for the road, he said.
A third project expected to be completed within 18 months is extending Stanley Drive to tie into U.S. 280
“That is the little access road that goes in front of McDonald’s and in front of AutoZone, and it just dead ends right now,” Sumners said. “That road will be extending out and merging onto U.S. 280 and will be a right in, right out. So it just kind of will help ease some of the congestion at that intersection really coming out of McDonald’s at that red light.”
The estimated cost in the transportation plan is $500,000. The city plans to apply for a grant to help with that project as well but is uncertain if a grant will come through, Sumners said.
Other than grant money, additional money for the Chesser Drive and Stanley Drive projects should come from gasoline tax money from the state or the city's general fund, the mayor said.
Other potential projects on the “wish list” include:
- Replacing a bridge on Whisenhunt Lane ($950,000)
- Repaving and widening 1,300 feet of Liberty Road ($500,000)
- Realigning the intersection of Liberty Road and Shelby County 47 ($270,000)
However, no money has yet been allocated for those projects, Sumners said. The repaving and widening of part of Liberty Road is tentatively scheduled for 2028, and the cost likely will be much greater than $500,000, he said. That estimate will be updated later in the 2028 transportation plan, he said.
The transportation plan is only a plan and is not binding, Sumners said. It’s “basically a wish list of projects that we would fund if we had all the money in the world, and you have to have something on your transportation plan in order to get Rebuild Alabama money, grant money,” he said.
The mayor also gave an update on the project to replace the 40-yard-long Liberty Road bridge over the north fork of Yellowleaf Creek. Liberty Road was closed at the bridge in May and was slated to reopen by Aug. 5, but it’s taking a little longer than expected, Sumners said.
“After talking with the county engineer, we are still optimistic that it will be completed prior to students returning to school on Aug. 13,” he said.
Photo by Caroline Miller
Construction work continues on the replacement of the Liberty Road bridge over the north fork of Yellowleaf Creek in Chelsea, Alabama, on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026.
In other business Tuesday, the City Council declared a 12-by-6-foot storm shelter at Fire Station No. 32 as surplus and agreed to dispose of it.
