The Shelby County Commission gave their approval for the widening and creation of an additional turn lane from U.S. 280 West onto CR-47.
This formalizes the partnership with ALDOT and the city of Chelsea who will all put in $200,000 for the project.
“ALDOT has been working to do access improvements and resurfacing and one of the biggest operational changes is adding a dual left turn from U.S. 280 westbound left onto CR-47 southbound,” said County Engineer David Willingham. “This project will add a second lane southbound on CR-47 for about 900 feet so that it can receive two lanes off of U.S. 280.
Willingham said that the project will hopefully shorten the left turn cycle length and give more through time to help with traffic congestion.
SRO contracts
The commission has done a review of School Resource Officer contracts with the school systems and how it’s being paid. County Manager Chad Scroggins said that in the past, all the partners would pay an entity and it would come back to the commission who would then cut checks, but a less complicated process is put into place.
“We’ve cleaned that up to make it simplified so we’re getting those out this week with additional funding going into that as we balance it out,” Scroggins said.
That will be part of a budget amendment coming at the next commission meeting on Sept. 24.
Chelsea reduces number of SCSO deputies
Scroggins also shared that the city of Chelsea made the decision to reduce services from 16 to 13 deputies for the city and address some incorrect information that has been shared.
“I want to take the opportunity to say that the Commission and Sheriff's Office have both been supportive of municipalities utilizing the professional services of our sheriff’s office,” Scroggins said. “It's been said in some public meetings that I personally am against municipalities using the sheriff’s office and that is incorrect. The people that state that are not stating that accurately.”
Scroggins added that he and Sheriff John Samaniego have talked about this issue many times, and they are both very supportive of municipalities utilizing the sheriff’s office with these contracts and they try to support them in every way possible.
“It provides the benefit of continuity of services as they go in and out of a municipal boundary,” Scroggins said.
In other commission news:
- County Engineer David Willingham reported that the railroad agreement for the County Rd 55 bridge in Vandiver-Sterrett bridge has been finalized and hopes the project goes to bid this spring, if not before.
- A bridge dedication was approved for former chief engineer of the Shelby County Highway Department, Thomas C. Grimes, who passed away Sept. 31, 2021. Grimes served 26 years with the county and the CR-52/Cahaba River Bridge will be renamed after him.
- Park and recreation grant applications are due Oct. 31. These are grants from the commission for municipalities, school systems or park and rec boards to assist with needed projects. The grants have a maximum amount of $100,000 and a $500,000 total amount for all of the selected projects.
