Second round of city paving almost finished
Apr. 21—A contractor is almost finished with the city's paving projects for fiscal 2021 even though five months remain in Decatur's budget year and roughly $2.56 million in paving had to be done.
The city does have other roadwork planned this year, and the state is scheduled to pave Sixth Avenue.
City Engineer Carl Prewitt said Rogers Group is expected to finish paving 14th Street Southwest, from Central Parkway to Carridale Street, either today or Thursday.
The company will move next to Eighth Street Southeast, the final street in the city's second and final round of paving, Prewitt said.
He said he's hoping Rogers will start milling Eighth Street, between Seventh and 21st avenues, this morning.
"They will move their paving machines over to Eighth as soon as they finish 14th Street," Prewitt said.
Prewitt said he hopes to add another small portion of Eighth between Fourth and Sixth avenues that wasn't in the plan.
This completes $1.26 million in paving that the City Council added in February after paving 23 roads in the initial $1.3 million budgeted for fiscal 2021.
The second wave of paving also covered Memorial Drive Northwest, north of West Moulton Street to Sixth Street; Indian Hills Road, from Burningtree Drive to Red Bank Road; Vestavia Drive Southwest, from Danville Road to Loggers Way; Danville Road Southwest, from Modaus Road to just north of of Chapel Hill Road; and the service road in front of the shopping center anchored by Kroger off Beltline Road Southwest.
"They did the first batch really quickly and they've moved on the second round," Council President Jacob Ladner said. "This is exciting. The residents really like a smooth road."
Ladner said this is the most the city has spent on paving in a long time.
"We can't pave everything in one year, but they did a pretty good job this year," Ladner said. "Paving is an essential service. We can't spend all of our money on paving because we have other expenses to meet."
Other projects
Roadwork will continue in Decatur. Work has begun on the Alabama 20 overpass in Decatur-annexed Limestone County.
On the city's southern end, contractor bids should go out soon for the realignment of the Red Bank Road-U.S. 31 intersection, according to Prewitt.
Prewitt said he expects the Shady Grove Lane widening project near Austin High will start in May or June.
Metropolitan Planning Organization Director Dewayne Hellums said the Alabama Department of Transportation is scheduled to have a contractor start paving Sixth Avenue this summer. The 5.96-mile paving project will run from Atkeson Road Southwest to Hudson Memorial Bridge.
— bayne.hughes@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2432. Twitter @DD_BayneHughes.
