LOXLEY, Alabama — A plan devised by a Birmingham-based firm, contracted with the Alabama Department of Transportation for “road improvements” along Highway 59, has caused concern among business owners and town officials in Loxley.

Scott Cothron with Sain Associates addressed more than 40 Loxley business owners and town officials at a public information meeting held Thursday, Dec. 6 at the Loxley Town Hall.

The proposal includes property along Highway 59 from Interstate 10 south to County Road 55 in Loxley and calls for access management along the highway, including eliminating some of the direct access routes to the highway creating frontage roads and backage roads to create access off of Highway 59.

The proposal also includes the construction of concrete island separations, many of which are designed to eliminate parking that requires backing onto the highway to gain access.

Tommy Cain, owner of Cain’s Piggly Wiggly Cost Plus in Loxley, said the proposal would virtually eliminate access to the front of his store.

“We have 18-wheelers coming in and out of the property several times a day,” he said. “Basically what you are talking about doing will make it impossible for them to access the property.”

The proposal would also affect drainage into the property, he said.

“When it rains, we already have a problem with water coming into the front of the store,” he said. “What you’re proposing to do will only make it worse.”

Cothron said many of the residents’ concerns could be addressed as the planning stages of the proposal continue.

“We are just in the preliminary planning stages,” he said. “A lot of details have to be worked out before any of this gets done.”

Lee Reach with ALDOT told residents that right now the plan is to resurface that area of Highway 59 beginning in November of 2013.

“We have a limited budget for resurfacing,” he said, “and an even more limited budget for access management. If there is any money left over once the resurfacing project is done, then we will look into making basic improvements, nothing more. The money simply isn’t there to do all that we’re proposing.”

That itself is an issue for Anita Craine, whose family owns Steve Craine Dentistry, along with adjacent properties along Highway 59.

“My biggest question right now is, ‘What is the next step?’” Craine said. “It just seems to me that you don’t have a plan for when the work is going to be done or what work is going to be done. It all comes down to how you feel that day and that’s just not acceptable to me.”

Reach assured residents that they would take all information into consideration before making any decision.

“We’re not going to show up tomorrow and say you have to do this,” he said. “That may have been how things are doing in the past, but that’s not how we operate now.”

Reach said any final plans would have to be sent to Montgomery for approval 10 weeks in advance, and that residents would be contacted at least 10 weeks before final plans are submitted for input on the proposed property.

“This process is all about getting your input and working together to make sure it’s done right,” Cothron said. “We don’t want to do anything that is going to hurt anyone’s business.”

Also in attendance on Thursday were state senators Tripp Pittman and Alan Baker, and state representative Steve McMillan.

“This is basically just in the conception stage right now and we just want to encourage everyone to listen to what they have to say and provide input,” Pittman said. “Bottom line this is about the town of Loxley and the businesses in Loxley and we want to insure that nothing is done that will hurt the businesses in Loxley.”

Many business owners expressed interest in targeting some of the improvements in the proposal, such as restructuring and putting a traffic light at the intersection of Highway 59 and U.S. Highway 90.

“I think that’s something we can all live with,” Cain said.

Another improvement residents expressed an interest in is putting a traffic light at the intersection of Hickory Street and Avenue B, the site of the former Loxley Elementary School which is now being used as a central office for the Baldwin County Board of Education.

“I think  a great deal of the traffic coming on and off of Highway 59 is coming from that intersection and there’s no traffic light there,” said one resident. “If you put a light there, that would solve a lot of our problems.”

Pittman also suggested that the Baldwin Beach Express currently under construction east of Highway 59 will also alleviate some of the beach traffic from Highway 59.

“That’s something we’re going to have to look at in the coming months, how that access will affect the traffic on Highway 59,” Pittman said. “I believe it will solve some of these problems.”

Greg Burris, who owns property on Highway 59 and leases it for Burris Farm Market, expressed concern that many of the proposed improvements would not solve the traffic problem on Highway 59.

“I just don’t believe, short of building a raised highway, there’s anything that can be done to solve the traffic problem on Highway 59,” he said. “Sometimes doing nothing is better than trying to do something.”