2026 Episode 2: Roads and Transportation Project Outlook

Want to know what big projects are in the works for 2026? We sat down with Jefferson County Roads and Transportation Director Chris Nicholson, and two of his Deputy Directors, Wendy Shelby and Tyler Hayes. They talk about what's in the works for all parts of the County including paving, and what happens when you enter a request in the MyJeffCo app. Tune in for an informative 15 minutes!

Have an idea for a County podcast? Contact the Director of Public Information, Helen Hays at haysh@jccal.org

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:12

Welcome everybody to the Jefferson County Podcast for the People. I'm your host today, Helen Hayes. I'm the Director of Public Information. And with us today, we have Chris Nicholson, who is the Director of Roads and Transportation. And we have Wendy Shelby, who is a deputy director for roads and transportation, and Tyler Hayes, who has absolutely no relationship to me. He even spells his last name differently, but he is also a deputy director in roads and transportation. So I really appreciate you guys being here today. What we wanted to do is our road work is obviously some of the most popular topics that we have on social media every time we're paving and we post weekly where our crews are out working every week, but it's always very popular. You know, the c ounty is over 2,000 square miles. So there's a lot to cover. There's a lot of requests. And so I kind of wanted to walk through with Wendy and Chris the big projects for 2026. And then Tyler, you're kind of over, you know, the crews and the My Jeff Co-App and how those things work. So I wanted to talk about those things as well. So Wendy, let's get started with you and some of the projects that are ongoing that we have in the county this year. I know there's some that were started in 2025 and they're supposed to wrap up in 2026. give us a brief update on Caldwell, there's Harmer Street, and there's the Lake Shore extension and Carson Road and some others. What's the big picture?

Speaker 1:49

Okay. So we have currently right now we have under construction Caldwell Mill and Old Looney Mill Road Bridges. they actually, those projects let back in 2025. Caldwell Mill Bridge has been completed and is now open to traffic. Old Looney Mill Bridge is under construction now, and we plan to open it this summer, summer of 2026. We also have a Harmer Street Bridge replacement project going on. It was let in May of 2025. It's under construction, and we look to complete that bridge in summer of 2026 also. Old Springville Road over Turkey Creek. We're also replacing a bridge there. Um, so it's currently under construction. It's to alleviate some intermittent flooding that we have during some storm events. That bridge will open also uh probably end of February, the beginning of March.

Speaker 1 2:44

Yeah, I know we just um we opened it to traffic and then um we've closed it again for a couple of days with the work. But that you know, as much as we say that that project is not finished, just because we opened the bridge doesn't mean it's finished. There's a lot more work to be done there, paving and that type of thing, right?

Speaker 3:03

That's correct. We had to do some some bridge railing had to be complete, and then our wearing surface had to be complete. So we're gonna close that road for a few more days and then we'll open it back up when it's complete. Sounds good.

Speaker 1 3:15

Sounds good. Yeah, Old Springville has definitely been a popular social media topic. I know people will be glad when that project's complete and that the end is in sight. All right, so Tyler, moving over to you. We always tell people, on our social media channels if they want to report something to use the My JECO app. And you can report all sorts of things, not just filling potholes. There are all sorts of departments that use our app, but um you guys are by far, I think, the most popular requests we see. Tell us a little bit how that works on the roads and transportation and once somebody makes a request.

Speaker 3 3:58

Okay. Um, so whenever a citizen puts in a request on the My JeffCo app, what that does is submit a service request ticket that our people in the operations and maintenance division get a notification. And then our goal is that they look at and investigate each of those requests within 48 hours.

Speaker 1 4:18

And so, but not everything can be done.

Speaker 3 4:22

That's correct. So our goal is to look at the request within 48 hours and investigate and come up with a plan of action. So we will respond to the citizens, letting them know what our plan of action is and that the work has been scheduled. And depending on that work, we have goals set up for how long we how long it takes to get to complete that work. That would depend on the difference in the type of request, if it's a litter pickup, a pothole, or a pavement request. But our goal is to let the citizens know that we have seen it, we have investigated it, and we have scheduled the work and give them an idea of when they can expect that work to be completed.

Speaker 1 4:57

Yeah. And so when it when the request is closed in the app, that generally means that you guys have scheduled the work, right?

Speaker 3 5:04

Yes, ma'am. It means we have looked at it, investigated it, scheduled the work.

Speaker 1 5:08

Okay, all right. So there's some confusion there, and I and and I understand it from the citizen's point of view too, that they think it's closed, they think it should be finished, but that actually means that the work has been scheduled. And so sometimes we get some duplicate requests there. So I think that's good to kind of clarify that. So you mentioned paving, and I know we get requests for roads to be paved, but roads and transportation has a paving plan, and you guys have looked at the roads and have been addressing the roads that need the most repair in the bad shape to do the paving. But, talk a little bit about, there are two different types of paving. I think Wendy, you're over contract paving. And Tyler, you deal with what the the crews are supposed to be paving. Talk a little bit about how paving is kind of hit or miss with weather, because especially now we're in the winter months, when it gets below freezing, we can't pave, right?

Speaker 3 6:12

That's correct. We do our best to pave year-round anytime we can and weather allows. the temperature needs to be 40 degrees and rising for our crews to get out and pave, or the contractors get out and pave. And you were talking about our paving plan. So Jefferson County has about 2100 miles of road in the county that we maintain. So we have also invested into a pavement management program where we have scored all these roads and identified the traffic demand on them, and then we take that into account with the condition to schedule a certain number of roads per year, which this year is going to be 120 miles. We paved 115 miles last year, but our overall goal is that all of our roads score good or better on the pavement condition index. We're getting closer to that. We've got about 67% of our roads scoring good or better at the moment. But if we continue with our plan, where our goal is to get to all of our roads scoring better better.

Speaker 1 7:13

Yeah, that sounds good. So, Wendy, talk a little bit about contract paving. How is that a little bit different in terms of scheduling that work?

Speaker 7:21

So, on contract paving, every year we have our gas tax money, and uh we usually have around six to seven million dollars yearly. So, like in 2025, we let a contract resurface in project that was seven million dollars. And we're currently uh finishing up that project now, and then upcoming March of 2026, we'll let another contract resurface and project that a contractor actually come in and do instead of the camp. So it'll be about a six million dollar project, also. Wow. Okay.

Speaker 1 7:53

I see a lot of requests both through the Action Center on the website and sometimes in the app for requests for us to pave things within the city limits of, you know, we've got so many municipalities, I think 33 municipalities within Jefferson County. We can't pave within the city limits unless we have a through-road agreement, right?

Speaker 3 8:19

That's correct.

Speaker 1 8:20

Okay. So if it's not one of our through-road agreements and you know, or something that we have in the special agreement to pave, that's really not the county's responsibility, is it, Tyler?

Speaker 3 8:31

That's correct. as I was talking about earlier, we have 2,100 miles of road that are our responsibility, and that is all in unincorporated Jefferson County. However, we do have three-road agreements with different municipalities for the major thoroughfares through their city so that we can maintain those as well.

Speaker 1 8:47

So, Chris, um, as the director of Reds and Transportation, why don't you talk about some of the newer and larger projects in the county taking place currently?

Speaker 2 9:00

Yeah, thanks, Helen., I'll be happy to. we have a lot of big projects, a lot of exciting projects going on with the county. Some are in different phases, some are that are currently in construction or some that are in design, being ready to be constructed. So one of our bigger projects is the Lakeshore Extension Project. And that was really a joint three-headed project with ALDOT and the city of Bessemer. However, the county has the biggest portion of that because it affects county roadways the most. And what that project is, that's about a $20 million project that takes where Lakeshore ends currently on Highway 150, and you have to turn right to go about a quarter mile to turn back left. So what we're doing is we're making that one cohesive intersection so you can get Lakeshore to Morgan Road, which is really a safety improvement project that allows for the citizens to travel that corridor a lot safer, a lot smoother, just be more efficient. That is in coordination with the ALDOT project where they're rebuilding a bridge. So if citizens are driving that over the next two years, they'll see a bridge reconstruction that ALDOT's handling on Highway 150 and a project that Bessemer is handling on the west side of that intersection, which is a resurfacing and intersection improvement project. So we're excited to see that one. If you're in the area, it's a it's a large construction project, so just be safe as you drive through.

Speaker 1 10:31

That's been talked about for a really long time. It's gonna take place over a couple of years, right?

Speaker 2 10:37

That's correct. It's a it's a long project, it's been in design for many years, and being such a big project in different phases, it's a two-year roughly construction time period.

Speaker 1 10:47

Okay.

Speaker 2 10:49

Similar in the area, a little further south. Look, also under construction, also a coordinated job with ALDOT is the MacAshan project. So the exit right there on 459 or 2059 actually headed towards Tuscaloosa, the MacAshan exit. We are building what we call a diverging diamond, and that is under construction now. so citizens drive through, they may see a different traffic pattern. And once the project's complete, it'll be a completely different traffic pattern than what they're used to. And this is something that's happening for safety reasons across the nation. The state of Alabama does not have many of these, so we're one of the first to come into the state. And what citizens can expect there is when you get off the interstate that you cross over and it feels like you're driving on the wrong side of the road because you are you're driving from what we're used to in America. We're typically driving on the right side of the road. Well, you'll be driving on the left side of the road. However, after driving a few times, you won't really notice. And the big impacts here for safety reasons is it it eliminates conflict points, and that's the goal for traffic. The least amount of conflict points, the better. And so a diverging diamond really takes that down to a minimum amount of conflict points and signals. So it's really a cool project and cool things that the county are doing in that area.

Speaker 1 12:18

Speaking of reducing conflict points, roundabouts, and weve done a lot of these now,, the roundabouts, but that leads us to another project, which will be down on Grant's Mill and 119, right?

Speaker 2 12:32

That's correct. And that's uh yeah, great segue to conflict points. So roundabout is the ideal conflict point elimination. It uh it takes away all left-hand turns to where you have those T-bone type conflicts and it puts into smooth transitions. So, yes, we are under design on Grants Mill at 119, which will be a future roundabout location. That's a project also in coordination with Al Dot. And that project is gonna be roughly around four million dollars construction when all said and done. And we anticipate that construction starting maybe really late this year, but most likely 2027, early 2027.

Speaker 1 13:21

Okay, okay, great. And there are two other projects that I think we haven't talked about, which is Carson Road and Galleria Boulevard. What are happening in those two places?

Speaker 2 13:33

So Carson Road is really a larger, this is a one phase of a larger project. Carson Road is a highly traveled area roadway and really the area in general up in the northern part of the county. This is the first phase, which is really the Carson Road. Right as you get off Highway 31, right there where Carson Road and Pine Hill and a couple other roads, Black Creek meet. It's a shoulder where we're widening the road, doing some shoulder improvements, some intersection improvements to eliminate those conflict points. We're talking about, create a safer traveling area for our citizens. And in the future, that's a this portion's about a one and a half mile piece. It will go under construction very soon, probably in February. You'll start seeing some construction signs. And then phase two is a little further down Carson Road. So, really, the future phases we're working east from Carson to Highway 79. So the future phases just kind of continue that pattern. And eventually by phase four, probably in about three years, have every phase finished out. And that'll be a full corridor improvement project from Highway 31 to Highway 79.

Speaker 1 14:46

I think that'll be good news for people in that area. and one last one Galleria Boulevard.

Speaker 2 14:54

Yeah, so Galleria Boulevard is actually it's in the city limits of Hoover, but it's one of those roads that the county maintains through through road agreements and just unincorporated parcels in the area. So the current situation is if you're familiar with the area, when you get off around the galleria and you're trying to get to the Helena, trying to go east, people cut through what they call the Ashley Furniture Cut-Through Road, or you drive up the hill, drive through their parking lot, and then back down the hill. A lot of you wouldn't think, but a lot of cars do that. We're talking hundreds to thousands of cars a day. And so, really, what this project is, is it's kind of taking the pattern that citizens are already traveling, and we're just gonna make that a true roadway. So, what it'll do is it'll extend, it'll shift that instead of a parking lot travel way. It'll be a real four-lane type corridor right there where 150 in galleria meet, where the Chick-fil-A is, and you'll go kind of up and over the hill, then back down and tie into old Lorna. that's a joint project with ALDOT in the city of Hoover. It really will impact a lot of citizens. They're already making that squarely turn pattern at the Ashley Furniture Store. But we're looking forward to that one. by the end of it, we're looking anywhere from six to eight million dollar investment that everybody's making. That project should bid this fall. And so you're looking at construction due to weather, probably maybe early of 2027, maybe late of 2026, just depending on the contract.

Speaker 1 16:25

That sounds good. And summarizing, Chris, with all of these projects, a lot of them have a a lot of impact on the traveling public. And these are obviously in some key areas. The bottom line with all of these projects that you guys do is making these roads safer for people to drive, right?

Speaker 2 16:49

Absolutely. That is our goal. We we have a lot of ideas and we have a process where we verify pros and cons of projects. But at the end of the day, the the big picture is using taxpayer dollars for our citizens to create a safer environment. We want to get you to point A to point B safe and then get you back home safe to be with your families. Um, so yes, the goal here is our goal always is a safer environment. And sometimes that comes with some headaches during construction with traffic control and lane closures, and we just we appreciate all the patience our citizens have with us, and we just ask for that continued patience as they drive through construction zones. Um, but it but yes, we are our goal is to improve the life of our citizens.

Speaker 1 17:32

All right, sounds good. I just kind of wanted to make that sure. Well, thank you guys so much for being here today. Um, I appreciate it. If anybody has another topic they'd like to hear more about on the podcast for the people, please shoot me an email. My email is Hayes H A Y S H at JCC A L dot O-R-G. And we'd be happy to um get that scheduled and take a look at it. We will see you next time on the Jefferson County Podcast for the