A look ahead: $1.4M set aside for roadwork to be finalized this month

Plans for roadwork around the city this year are still being finalized.

Public Services Director Berkley Squires said the city will meet with Volkert Engineering, which has created a citywide paving priority list this month to determine which projects will be completed in 2018.

This year’s budget sets aside $1.4 million for paving. In 2016, Homewood engaged Volkert to create a paving plan grading the roads based on current condition and priority for repair, from sealing cracks to milling and repaving. This will be the third fiscal year that Homewood has put funds toward the paving plan.

The 18th Street South “streetscape” project - which includes redesigning and reducing the number of lanes, new sidewalks, parking spaces and landscaping - will also move forward in 2018. The City Council approved an agreement to work with ALDOT on Nov. 13, and City Planner Vanessa McGrath said the city is waiting on final approval of engineering from the state.

Design work and any necessary engineering will happen this year, and McGrath said it’s possible construction will start as well. 

Another major road project, the Lakeshore Drive “diverging diamond” interchange, is likely to get started this year. The plans include new off and on ramps onto Interstate 65 at the Lakeshore Drive exit and a “diverging diamond,” which crosses traffic to the opposite side of the road at the bridge over the interstate, creating an opportunity for drivers to veer left onto the interstate without stopping. It also allows vehicles approaching Lakeshore from I-65 off ramps to merge into traffic instead of waiting for a light. 

Other elements of the project include a single left turn lane from eastbound Lakeshore Parkway to Wildwood Parkway, right-in and right-out access at the Wildwood shopping center with Walmart and Sam’s Club and westbound and eastbound auxiliary lanes between Wildwood Parkway and the southbound I-65 ramp. It’s also possible that a sidewalk would be added to the project and connect to the greenway.

The city is waiting on one final property easement, and McGrath said she is “fairly confident” that construction will happen in 2018. This year’s budget includes $838,000 for the project. Once construction begins, it should take less than a year to complete

The first part of construction will be building the new ramps on the south side of Lakeshore to I-65. Next, the lanes will be restriped to follow the new crossing patterns of traffic, and the traffic lights will be moved to the points where cars will enter the “wrong side” of the road and return to their original lane.

McGrath said traffic patterns will not change until the end of the project. Though it will require new driving habits, McGrath said she doesn’t think it will be difficult for drivers to adapt safely.

“You’re going to have a wall in the middle with people walking between those two walls, so you won’t actually see the cars going the ‘wrong’ way,” she said.

Lastly, work on the Oxmoor Road “turkey foot” intersection west of I-65 will likely not see progress this year. The project has been on hold due to increasing construction costs and delays in acquiring right-of-way access from surrounding properties.

McGrath said the city’s current expectation is to continue right-of-way acquisition in 2019 and do utilities work in 2020, with construction also potentially starting in 2020.