Photo by Sydney Cromwell
Construction blocks traffic on Shelby 11 in Chelsea on Oct. 3.
A project to add a left turn lane from Old Highway 280 onto Shelby 11 near Chelsea High School was more or less completed in mid-October, Shelby County’s chief civil engineer, Scott Holladay, said.
The project, which was approved in early July, added a turn lane to help with traffic on the road, which often becomes congested, especially in the mornings, Holladay said. With Old Highway 280 already seeing its fair share of daily traffic congestion, Shelby 11 was adding to it, as cars would back up Old Highway 280 waiting to turn on the road, which runs in front of Chelsea High School.
While there haven’t been a large number of traffic accidents in the area, Holladay said it helps move cars turning off the road while allowing those going straight to keep moving.
“This will allow cars turning left to get out of the way of the cars going straight to [Shelby] County Road 41,” Holladay said.
“It’s gone real well,” Holladay said of the work, which was performed by Dunn Construction.
Construction began after Labor Day and hasn’t had much of an impact on traffic, with the exception of a road closure Sept. 8, Holladay said. Workers were able to close lanes in non-peak hours, keeping traffic impacts to a minimum. The only remaining work as of Oct. 15 was to apply the permanent, reflective stripe that will mark the turn lane, Holladay said.
The project cost $393,000, with $250,000 paid by Shelby County and the other $143,000 paid by the city of Chelsea.
OTHER ROAD PROJECTS
Several other projects in the Shelby County area are underway and are at various points in their respective timelines.
A project to widen Valleydale Road from Caldwell Mill Road to Inverness Center Drive, a roughly $1.5 million project, is ongoing. Holladay said the county is still working to acquire rights-of-way and are down to 10 tracts to acquire after beginning the project with a need to acquire rights-of-way on about 100 tracts.
Realignment work at the intersection of Shelby 47 and Shelby 39, where the intersection will be moved for safety reasons, is currently in the beginning stages of acquiring rights-of-way. If everything goes well, construction could start as soon as late spring 2019, Holladay said.
A project to improve Shelby 29, or Caldwell Mill Road, is in the final design stages, Holladay said.
Lastly, Holladay said the Cahaba Beach Road project, which has drawn numerous comments from concerned residents about the environmental impact of connecting Sicard Hollow Road and U.S. 280, is in the process of submitting environmental statements.
The Alabama Department of Transportation has held meetings about the road, drawing criticism from many area residents, who say the impact of construction and added vehicle traffic will send contaminants into the Cahaba River, which will, in turn, impact the greater Birmingham area’s drinking water, as well as wildlife in the river.
As of October, ALDOT had not scheduled any more public meetings about the project.
