Cahaba Beach Road project not a priority, engineer says

A project to connect U.S. 280 to Sicard Hollow Road by building a bridge across Little Cahaba River is not canceled, but it also isn’t a priority for community and state leaders.

“It’s not a front-burner project right now,” said Randy Cole, engineer for Shelby County.

Cole said the county has not heard from the Alabama Department of Transportation about the Cahaba Beach Road project, and it is currently in a “state of limbo.”

Cole said ALDOT has its their hands full in Mobile with the proposed bridge project in that area, which has drawn much public feedback.

Public feedback was not in short supply when the Cahaba Beach Road Project was first proposed and discussed at community meetings.

The project would build a bridge and road over the Little Cahaba River, connecting U.S.280 to Sicard Hollow Road in Liberty Park. Options 5 and 5-B, both previously submitted to the public, are still on the table, as is the option not to build the road and bridge.

The road and bridge reconnecting the two roads would be two-lane controlled access roads, prohibiting development, ALDOT’s East Central Region Engineer DeJarvis Leonard said previously at an August 2018 public meeting. He said the project is needed to increase connectivity, not to alleviate traffic concerns on U.S. 280 as many have assumed. The estimated cost is between $12 million to $15 million, Leonard previously said.

The Cahaba Riverkeeper has expressed concerns with the environmental impact of the project, arguing construction runoff would damage the river, which is the source for most of the greater Birmingham area’s drinking water.

The city of Birmingham passed a resolution in November 2018 opposing the project outright, and the city of Vestavia Hills passed a resolution in December 2018 opposing the proposed options.

Leonard did not return multiple calls for comment for this story, and no update has been given since the August 2018 meeting.