City moves forward with $2 million bridge study

Jan. 22—A $2 million bridge feasibility study that received final approval from the City Council last week will evaluate the best location for an additional bridge to handle increasing traffic to and from Decatur, and also look at whether the existing southbound U.S. 31 bridge should be replaced and widened.

The agreement with TTL Inc. was the starting point for a feasibility study that Mayor Tab Bowling said is expected to take 10 to 12 months.

A $1 million Appalachian Regional Commission grant with a $1 million city match is funding the study. Tuscaloosa-based TTL has an office on Bank Street in Decatur.

The City Council retained Dayne Cutrell, director of governmental affairs for Maynard Cooper & Gale law firm, of Birmingham, beginning in 2021. The city pays Cutrell $7,500 a month, or $90,000 a year, to lobby for funding for the proposed bridge and other city interests.

Bowling, who initially proposed building another river bridge in September 2020, said "we've got to fix the problem" of increasing traffic congestion, particularly in the southbound lanes during rush hours, on the U.S. 31 causeway and bridge that's a main entrance into Decatur. He hopes the study will be a first step in the solution.

Council President Jacob Ladner said solving the traffic problem with a new bridge is his No. 1 priority in the second half of what is a five-year term because of an election schedule change.

"I can't think of a more important economic development and growth project," Ladner said. "A lot of our residents work in Madison County or they live in Madison County and work here. Whether the cost is $200 million or $2 billion, this is a critical piece for our future."

Wrecks or breakdowns on the U.S. 31 causeway or bridge routinely back up traffic on each end, east to Interstate 65 and west along Wilson Street-Alabama 20.

According to Dewayne Hellums, Decatur-area Metropolitan Planning Organization director, traffic counts show 53,000 vehicles enter and leave the city daily along this route. Much of the traffic is generated by Nucor and other industries along the river.

"It's only going to get worse as the area develops," said Hellums, who is leading the project in conjunction with TTL. "We're looking at everything. We know we've got to come up with solutions to fix the problem. We know we have a problem at the Y, including the U.S. 31 overpass bridge, the (Hudson) bridge and the intersection" of U.S. 31 and Wilson Street.

The City Council and mayor discussed at last week's meeting the estimated cost for a new bridge. In voting against the TTL contract, Councilman Billy Jackson said the cost of an additional bridge will be prohibitive and he doesn't believe the council should spend $1 million for a study on a bridge that will never be built.

According to Bowling, "The estimate from ALDOT (Alabama Department of Transportation) is $100 million to $400 million."

ALDOT estimated in 2014 that it would cost $444 million to build a toll bridge across the river. The project fizzled in January 2015, however, in the face of local opposition.

The main reason for the study is to identify the best location for an additional bridge. Bowling told the council last week that east of the causeway isn't an option because Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge covers the northeastern bank of the river near Decatur.

The study will mainly focus on the river from the Hudson Memorial Bridge to Nucor Corp., about 6 miles to the west. The new bridge would need to cross the river and then a road would need to be built to connect to the major highways in Limestone County. It likely would go through the state's Swan Creek Wildlife Management Area that occupies about 9 miles of the river's northern shore west of the U.S. 31 bridge.

That highway connection is key. The study will have to decide whether to connect at the Y between U.S. 31 and Huntsville-Decatur Highway (Alabama 20), farther north on U.S. 31 or near Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant at Huntsville-Brownsferry Road, which then connects to the east to Huntsville's new Greenbrier Parkway.

The failed toll bridge project had the southern end of the bridge connecting just east of Ingalls Harbor. It would have run west of the railroad bridge, connected to a thoroughfare near Hospitality Park and then joined Alabama 20 just east of U.S. 31.

While some of the data is now outdated, TTL's proposal says it will use some of the findings from the ALDOT study on the toll bridge.

Part of TTL's proposal is to assess the need for replacement of U.S. 31's southbound bridge, also known as Capt. William J. Hudson "Steamboat Bill" Memorial Bridge. The southbound truss bridge was built in 1963 and rehabilitated in 1997. The northbound reinforced concrete bridge was built in 1999.

TTL will look at whether the southbound bridge should just be replaced with a bridge that has a "total of three southbound lanes along with key intersection improvements in Decatur for the south intersection (with Wilson Street) as well as intersections toward the northwest part of Decatur."

ALDOT spokesman Seth Burkett said the southbound bridge is late in its design lifespan, but it is only on a two-year inspection cycle. It was last inspected in September 2021 and is scheduled for inspection again in September of this year.

Burkett said the bridge currently shows no structural deficiencies.

"It's not unusual for a bridge to outlast its design life with proper maintenance," Burkett said. "After all, the design life is an expectation, not an expiration date."

The southbound U.S. 31 bridge will likely undergo another rehabilitation in the future.

"After the Tennessee River bridges on Interstate 65 are rehabbed, this one is anticipated to be a priority," Burkett said.

The state last year rehabbed the Capt. John Snodgrass Bridge, another truss bridge that is a few years older and crosses the river near Stevenson.

In 2017, ALDOT finished rehabbing O'Neal Bridge in Florence. It was a project that took more than two years and cost about $13.5 million.

"O'Neal Bridge is significantly older (than Hudson bridge), having been constructed in 1939. A timely rehabilitation can potentially extend a bridge's operational lifespan by decades," Burkett said.

However, Burkett said none of the recently rehabbed bridges needed to be expanded because of traffic growth.

The contract with TTL provides the company will hold public information meetings as the study progresses.

— bayne.hughes@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2432. Twitter @DD_BayneHughes.