By Cliff McCollum
News Editor
The Alabama Department of Transportation started placing asphalt pavement on the new lanes constructed on Frederick Road this week, making another benchmark in the long-awaited road update.
Opelika City Engineer Scott Parker said travel on Frederick Road would not be blocked or detoured during the paving process, which ALDOT officials estimate will take one week, weather permitting.
Motorists on the road should expect possible delays as asphalt trucks and pavers enter and exit the affected area.
Roads crossing the areas being paved include Cunningham Drive, Old Opelika Road and Bradford Drive.
Opelika Mayor Gary Fuller recently said he and many other local citizens were anxiously awaiting the completion of the Frederick Road project.
“We’re expecting everything to be finished by the end of this calendar year or by early 2015, if everything goes as we expect it to,” Fuller said. “This has been a long process, and we are all ready to have it come to an end.”
Fuller said a number of reasons have added time to the project, namely the relocation of a number of utility features along Frederick Road.
“We’ve had to move power lines, fiber lines, sewer lines and water mains,” Fuller said. “There have been a number of things we’ve had to do with our utilities before we could even start to address the road itself, and it has taken some time.”
Fuller said the Frederick Road project remains a “work in progress,” but he and other city officials feel confidant that ALDOT and the contractors can finish the job in a timely fashion.
“As long as the weather cooperates, we feel good about Frederick Road possibly being finished this year,” Fuller said. “It’s been a long time coming, but we’re finally seeing the end of this long-awaited project.”