The Alabama Department of Transportation this weekend is beginning construction on a project that will widen the stretch of Interstate 20 from the Moody area to Pell City.
The Alabama Department of Transportation’s project to widen the last four-lane segment of the interstate in St. Clair County — from Eden (Exit 158) to Brompton (Exit 147) — will provide much-wanted congestion relief on this busy highway. Motorists likely began noticing the short-term impacts of construction Friday.
ALDOT and its contractor, Wright Brothers Construction Co. Inc., are “planning construction activities in ways that minimize traffic impacts,” according to a release from the department.
“ALDOT and Wright Brothers will be working together to inform the public of occasional lane closures and ongoing construction activities,” it reads in part.
The first impacts began at 8 a.m. Friday, and will last all weekend. A portion of Cook Springs Road under I-20 will be closed to lower the elevation of the roadway. This portion of Cook Springs Road will reopen by 6 a.m. Monday.
Any I-20 traffic exiting on to Cook Springs Road will be limited to turning right only, as the roadway under the I-20 overpass will be involved in this weekend’s phase of road-lowering. Cook Springs Road traffic traveling north toward I-20 East and traveling south toward I-20 West will not be affected. I-20 traffic will not be affected.
Also, for two nights next week motorists traveling east on Interstate 20 will experience a night-time lane closure from the Kelly Creek Bridge (147) in Moody to the Cook Springs Road exit (152).
The outside lane will closed on I-20 eastbound for five miles between Kelly Creek Bridge and Cook Springs Road from 7 p.m. Monday to 6 a.m. Tuesday, with the same schedule Tuesday night to Wednesday morning.
“Interstate traffic volumes are typically lowest at night and on weekends, so ALDOT is using this schedule to minimize impacts on the public,” the department said in its release.
Workers will be installing concrete barrier rails to separate the two existing travel lanes from the outside shoulder in preparation for the upcoming widening of I-20 to six lanes in this area. Adverse weather may cause the lane closures to be extended to additional nights “to safely complete installing the barrier rails.”
This project to widen I-20 from west of Kelly Creek in Moody to mile marker 155.67 was awarded to Wright Brothers Construction Co. of Charleston, Tenn., for a low bid of $54.95 million.
A reduced speed limit of 45 mph is in effect throughout the work zone.
The project is scheduled for completion by Oct. 1, 2012.
