09-02-2025
Morgan, Limestone counties receive funding for intersection improvements
Feb. 8—Gov. Kay Ivey announced Thursday that the state is awarding more than $40 million for infrastructure projects, including intersection improvements in Morgan and Limestone counties.
ATRIP‐II is an ALDOT administered transportation infrastructure grant program for projects of local interest created in the Rebuild Alabama Act of 2019.
In Morgan County, the intersection of Alabama 24 and South Greenway Drive in Trinity will see improvements. The state awarded Morgan County $770,000 with no county match for the project.
"We're adding turn lanes on South Greenway and West Morgan Road, then redoing the turn lanes on (Alabama 24) and upgrading the traffic signals," said Trinity Mayor Vaughn Goodwin. "When school lets out, you have people coming up to the intersection, one turning west onto (Alabama 24) and somebody's turning east or vise versa, and it backs all the way up to (West Morgan High School)."
Goodwin said with the additional turn lanes and upgraded traffic signals, the improvements should alleviate all the traffic. He said the improvements have been needed for quite a while, but things like funding has held the project up. Goodwin said this is not the first ATRIP funding they have received for this project.
"We had an original award on that for like $1.5 million, $1.6 million; the town was going to match $300,000," he said. "And then some of the latest cost estimates on the project had gone up, so we went back and applied for additional ATRIP funds. Then we were awarded this $770,000 to help cover the total cost."
The additional cost is due to problems with the dirt in the area, Goodwin said.
"What they found out is that there is some dirt that maybe didn't make the test," he said. "It's going to have to be dug out and more dirt brought in."
Goodwin said they are hoping the project will go out to bid in March and be completed sometime in the summer.
Limestone County was awarded about $1.34 million with no county match for improvements to the Alabama 53 and Pinedale Road intersection in District 1. County Engineer Marc Massey said with the county's growth has come higher traffic counts.
"What prompted the (ATRIP) application was because along the (Alabama) 53 corridor there that's within Limestone County, that intersection had the highest number of traffic accidents along the (Alabama) 53 corridor within Limestone County," Massey said. "The traffic count is so high that a vehicle having to stop in the main line of traffic waiting to turn was causing some issues in the area."
There are several improvements that will be made to the intersection, Massey said, with some upgrades still to be determined.
"We applied to upgrade the warning signage and then to put turn lanes in so that we can get the turning vehicles out of the main line of traffic," he said. "There are no lights; it's an unsignalized intersection. I don't know exactly what it's going to end up being because the DOT (Alabama Department of Transportation) has to approve the warning lighting at the intersection."
Massey said some of the options they have for lighting are overhead warning lights, adding luminaries to the intersection, or advance warning lights.
"There's been a few options that we're going to evaluate, so I don't want to speak too prematurely," he said.
Massey said the $1.34 million they are receiving should cover the total cost of the project.
"We don't have any utilities in the area to be an issue. (ALDOT) has plenty of right-of-way through there, so there won't be any right-of-way acquisitions," he said. The funds "will primarily be for design and construction."
While there is no county match, Massey said, the county will be responsible for any overages.
"That is a fixed amount, so our goal is to of course keep it within that amount, but primarily improve the intersection so that we can see a decrease in the issues that we have currently at the location," he said.
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