When will $65 million McWright's Ferry Road extension be finished?

For a $65 million enterprise, the city of Tuscaloosa's second-largest ever construction project, one deemed necessary as far back as 1979, the McWright's Ferry Road extension is rolling smoothly.

A boon came from 2023's spring and summer stretch of sunny, mostly rain-free days.

More: Sports Illustrated/Travel + Leisure to build first resort destination in Tuscaloosa

"The weather's been so good," said Norman Crow, City Council representative for District 3, where the miles of improvements and extensions are being built, to provide greater access to the growing population north of the Black Warrior River, and of Lake Tuscaloosa.

McWright's Ferry Road will eventually connect to the Eastern Northern Bypass, on the north side of Paul W. Bryant Bridge, which spans the Black Warrior River, connecting Jack Warner Parkway to Rice Mine Road NE.

"I think we're on schedule, which is great for a city project," he said. Barring supply-chain issues, bad-weather delays or other unpleasant surprises, the project should be done by late 2025. "We just had some major work with Alabama Power this week. There's a lotta dirt moving. It's amazing what's happened since March."

A ceremonial groundbreaking was held in July, though construction actually began in March. The extension is being overseen by the Tuscaloosa County Road Improvement Commission, (TCRIC), created in 2015 following passage of House Bill 600, known as the Transforming Tuscaloosa County bill.

That made permanent a decades-long previously temporary 3-cent sales tax. A portion of that tax funds TCRIC projects, which also include the ongoing Jack Warner Parkway/Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard connector, at $73 million the city's largest, and work on McFarland Boulevard, Bear Creek Cutoff Road, and state route 69, north and south.

School and other traffic-related issues have arisen, as Dominion and GFC construction companies haul out debris, and, of course, the city has fielded citizen complaints, which have been forward to engineering and other departments.

"On the whole, I think people are pretty excited," Crow said. "(They're) willing to take a little bit of headache for what the long-term improvement is going to be," which will include not only eased traffic flow, but potentially life-saving access for first-responders in emergencies, and residential and retail growth along previously undeveloped land.

Primary work now is on connection points, McWright's Ferry Road with Rice Mine Road, and New Watermelon Road with State Highway 297, said Mayor Walt Maddox. The dangerous curve where McWright's Ferry Road meets New Watermelon is essentially being squared off into a four-way intersection.

"Over a million yards of dirt is being removed from the site," Maddox said, "and they're installing an 18-inch sewer line which will serve for the next 150 years.

"Pilings are being put in place not only for the vehicle bridge (over North River), which is being built to a four-lane width — even though the road is only two-lane, we have the capacity to expand to four lanes — but for the pedestrian bridge."

Even if the weather stays fair, and no supply issues or other unexpected delays arise, we're looking at 24 more months of inconveniences, Maddox said. It's going to be "very invasive" between spring 2024 and fall of 2025, when much of the major work will run. While new water and other infrastructure gets installed, current systems have to be kept running, too.

Substantial work should be completed by the third quarter of 2025, with final touches dusted off in the last quarter. It's a project not just for now, Maddox said, but for the next 50 years.

"I have been very impressed by the speed and effectiveness of Dominion and GFC," he said.

Thompson Engineering and the Tuscaloosa Police Department are working to ameliorate the worst of traffic issues. Though they wish they could, the city simply can't work around the school calendar.

"We appreciate everyone's patience with it," Maddox said.

New Watermelon Road currently crosses the spillway and dam, serving as the only access point for 11,000 Tuscaloosa County residents. According to a 2013 traffic study, daily counts of 5,000 to 7,000 vehicles traveling to and from that area are expected to more than double by 2035, to 16,500 per day.

On the west side of the lake, 848 new developments are in progress, including 118 housing units at Waterfall, 658 at High Grove, and 72 at Pinnacle Park, which will create further congestion.

As former Chamber of Commerce of West Alabama CEO and President Jim Page noted last year, retail will follow rooftops.

The McWright's Ferry Road extensions will ultimately connect with the Randall Family Park and Trailhead on Rice Mine Loop, adjacent to which is coming a major new development, a Sports Illustrated Resort, being created in collaboration with Travel + Leisure. It's expected to open about the time the extension completes, at the end of 2025. Minutes away across the river, on McFarland Boulevard and Harper Lee Drive, Tiger Woods' PopStroke is under construction, expected to open in November, one of the first such family entertainment centers located outside a major metropolitan area.

Such massive projects will draw eyes and dollars, and could pave the way for more intimate lifestyle enhancements, Crow said, including, he hopes, new to the area businesses and attractions.

"There's nothing like being mayor of your city when it's succeeding," Maddox said. "Do we have challenges? Yes. But we always meet them."

Reach Mark Hughes Cobb at mark.cobb@tuscaloosanews.com.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: When will $65 million McWright's Ferry Road extension be finished?