The Alabama Department of Transportation opened bids last week for a project to reconstruct nearly 11 miles of I-59 southbound between Collinsville and Reece City.
ALDOT projects rebuilt multiple segments of I-59 northbound in DeKalb and Etowah counties in recent years. These include two completed projects and two that remain under construction. The project let Friday, Dec. 6., will be the first to fully reconstruct a segment of the southbound roadway.
Of five bidders, Vulcan Materials, Asphalt and Construction submitted the apparent low bid of $40,736,789. ALDOT anticipated bids in a range of $43.1 to $52.7 million.
Construction phasing and timing
The project includes pavement removal, grading, drainage, base, and pavement replacement from south of the SR-68 interchange at Exit 205 in Collinsville to south of the Stephens Gap Road overpass north of Reece City. ALDOT anticipates the winning contractor will divide the project into two phases, each reconstructing a roughly five-mile segment.
Construction is pending bid review and award of the contract, but work will likely begin in Spring 2025. The deadline for completion is March 12, 2027.
Travel
In the first half of next year, motorists traveling I-59 through DeKalb and Etowah counties could encounter as many as three several-mile lane shifts within about 40 miles of the state line. A single, two-lane roadway carries two-way traffic, separated by concrete barriers, through areas where the other roadway is being demolished and reconstructed. Though motorists might experience occasional delays, daily traffic impacts during each of the three projects are expected to be minimal.
Previous, ongoing, and planned projects
Deterioration of the original concrete roadway necessitated total reconstruction of parts of I-59 in northeast Alabama. Here is the history of completed and ongoing projects:
- In 2023, Wiregrass Construction completed work on the corresponding northbound segment at a cost of $44 million.
- In 2022, Wiregrass finished about eight miles of the northbound roadway through Fort Payne at a cost of $25.2 million.
- Contractor A.G. Peltz Group is replacing an eight-mile segment between US-11 in Fort Payne and SR-117 in Hammondville, anticipated to be complete in early 2025, at a cost of $40.8 million.
- Wiregrass is working to reconstruct more than eight miles of the northbound roadway of I-59 from SR-117 at Hammondville to the Georgia state line at a cost of $40.9 million.
The cost of the improvements so far exceeds $150 million. The project let Friday could raise that total to more than $190 million.
Additionally, Wiregrass recently began work on a major I-59 reconstruction project in Birmingham and Trussville, in Jefferson County, at a cost of $70.4 million.
ALDOT plans to address additional segments of both roadways in future projects, as funding becomes available. A consultant is designing the next project for the southbound roadway, which will begin at the state line and stretch about 16 miles to north of the US-11 overpass in Fort Payne. ALDOT engaged another consultant to design the next northbound segment, from north of Collinsville to Exit 218 at SR-35 in Fort Payne.
