Map courtesy of city of Vestavia Hills
Jefferson County is partnering with the city of Vestavia Hills to install a traffic signal at the intersection of Liberty Parkway and Urban Center Parkway in the Liberty Park community.
The Vestavia Hills City Council this week approved an agreement to work with Jefferson County to install a traffic signal at a new location in Liberty Park.
The signal is slated to go at the intersection of Liberty Parkway and Urban Center Parkway, where there have been a number of crashes, City Manager Jeff Downes said.
“We have watched that intersection for a number of years, and with the traffic volume in Liberty Park and the uniqueness of that intersection, it was time to put a signal up. … We had studies done to show it was warranted. … As a resident of Liberty Park myself, you take your life in your hands as you try to come out.”
At first, the city was planning to contract the work out to a private contractor with an expected cost of about $450,000, Downes said. He called Jefferson County to inquire if the county would be willing to be a financial partner, and Jefferson County agreed to have its own workers install the signal for just $234,000, he said.
So now the city will pay Jefferson County $234,000, and the county will order the parts and get the signal installed as soon as it can, Downes said. The agreement approved by the Vestavia Hills City Council Monday night calls for the work to be done within two years.
Editor's note: The map originally published with this story was replaced with a new map because the original map provided by the city showed the wrong intersection of Liberty Parkway and Urban Center Parkway. The new traffic signal will be at a location where there is no traffic signal now.
