Travelers navigating the heart of Alabama are quite familiar with I-65 traffic.
Nearly 100,000 vehicles pass through the interstate’s Shelby County section every day.
Vacationing families on the way to the state’s sugar-white sandy beaches contribute to the congestion.
“We get a lot of traffic in the summertime. It is unreal. And there’s a wreck, within ten minutes of the wreck, the interstate is backed up for miles,” said ALDOT’s Calera District Administrator Tim Wallace.
Now Wallace’s district is helping oversee another I-65 widening project.
Alabama is spending about $150 million to add a third lane from Alabaster down to Calera.
The project will also replace a group of outdated, narrow bridges.
Wallace says that project will not only boost capacity but improve his team’s response to wrecks.
“That is going to make a huge difference. Any time there was a wreck on the interstate, it shut everything down,” Wallace said.
Naval experience pays off
Wallace came to ALDOT in 1993 after serving more than a decade in the Active U.S. Navy.
He said his naval experience prepared him for the unpredictability of managing ALDOT’S growing Calera District.
“It’s always changing. Those phone calls, the wreck, whatever happens, the weather. Those things always shift that. I was already used to that. So, that was not a big deal to me,” Wallace said.
He says his maintenance crew of about a dozen mirror that kind of flexibility every single day.
Flexibility to overcome challenges
“Their ability to adapt and overcome,” Wallace said when asked what makes the Calera District team so special.
Wallace gives much of the credit to veterans like Maintenance Superintendent T.J. Horton.
Horton has worked to improve and maintain ALDOT’S Shelby County roads for more than a quarter of a century.
Wallace says Horton has a talent for tailoring the right tools and people for each job.
“He’s able to mix and match what we’ve got to make it a good, effective crew. That ability to shift when you get out there and you see what you’ve got. Not everybody can do that,” Wallace said.
Whether it’s the occasional ice storm or calls about grass cutting, he said the Calera District faces its share of challenges.
However, Wallace insists his crews work hard with the resources they have keep Shelby County travelers moving.
“We do make a difference, and I think we keep our roads pretty safe. And if we have an issue, we try to fix it as fast as we can possibly get to it,” Wallace said.
