FAIRHOPE, Ala. — It began as a culvert but ended as a 780-foot bridge.

“The original report called for a (concrete) box culvert,” said Joe Bullock, manager of Engineering Development Services, about initial plans for how an extension of County Road 13 north of State Highway 104 would cross Fly Creek and adjacent wetlands. “It then went to a bridge of 80 feet (in length), to one of 120, then 154, then 540 feet.”

Bullock, whose firm did the civil engineering for the project, said in March 2008 that plans for the bridge had been extended once more at that time for a total length of 780 feet.

That road and bridge project has been under way this year and is expected for completion next June, said Frank Lundy, construction engineer for the Baldwin County Highway Department.

The project has earned praise from some local environmental groups and advocates.

“They have really set a good example for how a project should be done according to best management practices,” said Jim Horner, chairman of the Fairhope Environmental Advisory Group. “Most of the environmental safeguards were mandated by Auburn University in the contract on the sale of the land.”

Lundy said the county highway project budgeted approximately $1 million of a total $11.8 million for erosion and stormwater control.

“Our main goal for budgeting these measures was to ensure that we were doing everything feasibly possible to minimize impacts to the Fly Creek watershed,” Lundy said.

Horner said that “phasing” was used during all construction on sloped ground, meaning that “each phase had to be stabilized prior to starting the next.”

A new ordinance passed by the city this year will require similar “phasing” in some local construction projects if located near “critical” areas such as wetlands.

Horner praised a number of other measures taken during construction, but he also said a remaining issue concerns how growth will be managed along CR 13. When completed that two-lane road will run all the way from U.S. Highway 98 in the south to Interstate 10 in the north.

He noted that the property, much of which is owned by the Corte family, is in an unzoned area of the county.

“The county has authority to develop an access plan for County Road 13 but it has not been developed yet,” Horner said. He added, “One of the primary means to control sprawl is to control access. Developers want access every quarter-mile or less.”

Horner also said the bridge, at 45 feet wide, will be able to accommodate a bike and pedestrian lane.