FAIRHOPE, Ala. — When the project was first proposed in the late 1990s, the original plan to cross Fly Creek looked much different than it does now, said the civil engineer whose firm took over the contract with the county for a new north-south corridor about eight years ago.

“The original report called for a (concrete) box culvert,” said Joe Bullock, manager of Engineering Development Services in Daphne. “It then went to a bridge of 80 feet (in length), to one of 120, then 154, then 540 feet.”

Bullock announced Wednesday that the proposed bridge through the Fly Creek watershed has grown again.

“At the beginning of the year, Auburn allowed us access for limited clearing and to do soil borings,” he said. “Those borings reflected much more unsuitable material that would have to be removed and filled. I decided it would be advantageous with less impact to extend the bridge about 240 feet.”

That now makes the size of the proposed bridge 780 feet long.

That bridge and a new road through property owned by Auburn University and private individuals will connect sections of County Road 13 a few miles east of Fairhope to build a road all the way to Interstate 10 in order to decrease traffic on U.S. 98.

Bullock described the new design of the project and plans to minimize environmental impacts to protected wetlands at the project site at the monthly meeting of the Fairhope Environmental Advisory Board. Also attending the meeting were representatives from the county highway department, Auburn University, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Wetland Sciences, a consultant to the project.

In January, the county highway department said construction of the bridge and road project would start in March or April.

Then the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers requested additional information about the project. That agency was reviewing the county’s application for a permit to dredge and fill in wetlands pursuant to Section 404 of the Clean Water Act.

“We have asked the (county) for a more detailed alternative analysis to include an assessment of completely bridging Fly Creek and its floodplain to avoid all impacts to wetlands,” corps spokesperson Patrick Robbins said at the time. “The total wetland impact of this proposal is .54 acres. To span the entire area, the bridge would need to be 772 feet.”

Robbins said Thursday that the additional information had not been received but was expected when the new designs were submitted.

He said the original permit application was received May 21, 2007, and that the public comment period ended 30 days later.

“With the revised plans, we don’t usually go back out on public notice if the revised plans decrease the impacts from the original plans,” he said. “It is our understanding the revised plans they will submit will decrease the impacts as they are now bridging the entire crossing versus partial fill with bridge.”

During Wednesday’s meeting, James Bannon, Auburn University’s director of outlying units, answered questions about the work it had done surveying the property and providing environmental standards the county would have to meet before it would grant a right of way for the project.

He said two biological reports were prepared by Auburn University scientists who played a role in developing the stipulations required for its approval of the project.

“There are species down there that have not been identified,” he said. “(The scientists) intend to come back down there after construction and see the results.”

A new consultant for the project was surprised at that statement but also said the plans for minimizing environmental impacts were considerable.

“It’s one of the most extensive, best-management-practices projects I’ve ever been involved with,” said Craig Martin, senior scientist with Wetland Sciences in Pensacola. “Originally our focus was to preserve the character of the creek, and now it’s on preservation of the entire floodplain area.”

Martin’s company replaced an earlier wetlands consultant to the project, said Cal Markert, county engineer.

The study by that earlier consultant regarding endangered species was relied upon by the Fish and Wildlife Service in filing its statement, which stated no listed species existed on the property, an agency representative said. The agency first learned of the Auburn studies at Wednesday’s meeting and did not review them prior to filing the most recent letter submitted Thursday to the corps, he said.

Markert said the cost of the project has remained at approximately $11.5 million because the cost for the additional length of the bridge will be offset by reduced dredge and fill costs.

Officials at the county highway department said the project might be ready to send out for bids this summer.

“Hopefully everything will be ready early this summer,” Bullock said. “Our goal is to provide the contractor with as many tools as possible to minimize the erosion coming from the construction and lessen other environmental impacts once the project has been completed.”