• Storm drain replacement project planned in advance of major resurfacing work later this summer

ROBERTSDALE, Alabama — U.S. Highway 90 between College and Fountain Street in Robertsdale will be closed for two days next week to replace a storm drain, city officials said during the May 19 council meeting.

City crews and officials with the Alabama Department of Transportation will be replacing a 48-inch pipe just west of Rochelle Loop beginning June 7, said city engineer Greg Smith. The project is set to begin on a Tuesday because Monday, June 6 is a state holiday, Smith said.

“Basically, we wanted to get the pipe replaced underneath the road before the state begins its resurfacing project,” Smith said.

According to the DOT’s letting website, three bids were opened April 29 for the resurfacing project, which will close at least one lane of traffic along U.S. 90 from Alabama 59 in Robertsdale to the Florida state line for up to six months beginning this summer.

John G. Walton Construction of Mobile submitted the low bid of $2.6 million for the project. Bids were also submitted by H.O. Weaver & Sons and Mobile Asphalt Co., both also from Mobile.

The project, which will include planing, resurfacing and traffic striping on the 16 and a half mile stretch of highway. In an interview in April, Ken Owens with AL-DOT’s construction department in Mobile said it takes about three months once a project is let for construction to begin, putting the beginning of the project at around the end of June or first of July. On May 19, Smith said he was told the city would be given a little more time to complete its work before construction would begin.

The contract calls for 85 working days; estimated at 15 days a month, the total project will take about five and a half to six months, Owens said. While it will ultimately be up to the contractor, Owens said, in all likelihood the project will start at Alabama 59 and go in stages closing one lane at a time along the way. There will either be a worker with flags or a pilot car to direct traffic around the construction, depending on visibility.

For the storm drain project, city crews will need to re-route traffic for about two days and will include cutting out and replacing a section of the road, Smith said. The road will be closed at College Street to the west and Fountain Street to the east, re-routing traffic along Hughen Street.

“We will need to cut out a minimum of 20 feet of road for the project, at most 25 feet,” Smith said. The road should be closed all day June 7 and 8 in hopes of getting the road back open by the afternoon of June 9.

The small portion of the road where the storm drain will be replaced will be opened temporarily with a gravel surface, Smith said. State crews will then patch the road – which should take about a week – until the resurfacing project can begin.