ALDOT: Circle improvements on track

In his years in city politics, Dothan Mayor Pat Thomas said he has never heard a high-ranking state official tell him what he was told last week.

After a productive meeting with Alabama Department of Transportation officials on improvements to Ross Clark Circle, Director Joe McInnes set up a follow-up meeting to be sure the project follows the time line discussed.

That is, to complete the design and engineering phase for the first segment — Montgomery Highway from Ross Clark Circle up to Wallace Drive — and bid out the project by the end of the year.

“It was easily the most productive meeting we have had with ALDOT,” Thomas said. “McInnes said, ‘As a followup to this meeting, let’s meet again in 60 days to be sure we are on track.’ It is the first time in 11 years I’ve seen a director say, ‘Let’s have another meeting,’ and I expect him to do it. When I ran for office in 1997 I was talking then about how long it takes to get Circle improvements started.”

Thomas, City Commissioner Paul Lee and City Traffic Engineer Charles Metzger met with McInnes and ALDOT District Engineer Mike Griffin last Wednesday.

“The Circle improvements are still where they should be time wise,” Thomas said during Tuesday’s city commission meeting. “It is almost out of the design phase and is to be submitted to the Federal Highway Administration people in two weeks.”

This section of highway was originally placed at a lower priority but the opening of The Pavilion has increased traffic to about 35,000 to 40,000 vehicles a day, making this the most highly traveled section of road in the city.

The second busiest area in the city – West Main Street at the Circle – is to be included in the second section of improvements, from U.S. 231 North to Bauman Drive. The final segment to be improved is from Bauman to U.S. 231 South.

In these sections, the Circle is being redesigned as a 6-lane road with the reduction of a significant number of median crossings.

On other projects, City Traffic Engineer Charles Metzger said:

n The 5-laning of Westgate Parkway is moving along in the area east of Montgomery Highway. “It is an 18-month project that began in January,” Metzger said. “By July of 2009, it should be five-lane from Highway 84 to Highway 431.”
Metzger says he intends to pursue the continuation of that five-laning from Honeysuckle Road down to Highway 52, which is another $8 million to $9 million project.

n Denton Road, south of Westgate to the Circle, also needs addressing. Metzger said the replacement of the bridge at Rock Creek is a priority.

n Murphy Mill Road Extension is ongoing, to tie into Flynn Road. It could be completed in August or September.
Metzger said all the improvements are needed to keep traffic flowing.

“Traffic is what you deal with day in and day out. If you live in Birmingham or Atlanta, you are more used to it. Our traffic increases every day, no doubt about that,” Metzger said.
“Traffic delays will increase as we grow, with new development. People can expect delays until we get more lanes out there. We have a computerized traffic signal system to try and move the traffic but you can only move so much. It is like pushing water through a pipe. There is only so much you can get through there during evening, lunch, morning rush hour and during seasonal times.”