FAIRHOPE – City officials are seeking a state grant to repave two miles of Baldwin County 13, an area described as in some of the worst condition of any qualifying city road.
The Fairhope City Council voted Wednesday, Dec. 22 to apply for a state grant of $249,994 under the Rebuild Alabama Act to resurface Baldwin County 13 from Morphy Avenue south to the city limits.
Ricard Johnson, Fairhope public works director, said a city application for sidewalk funds under the Rebuild Alabama Act was denied, but the road project should have a better chance of approval.
“When we went and looked back at the list of all the funded projects, 90 % of them were all resurfacing projects, so the mayor and I talked and we said we probably don’t need to do against the grain to try to do that,” Johnson told City Council members. “So, we’re looking at the one road that would meet the qualification that is in the worst condition and that is County Road 13 from Morphy south.”
Johnson said other portions of Baldwin County 13 have been repaved in recent years, but the road south of Morphy has not been resurfaced for several years.
“In the 2018 paving plan, we did base repairs and resurfacing 13 between Morphy and Fairhope and the county took care of resurfacing from Fairhope all the way up to Moseley before they turned it over to us for maintenance,” Johnson said. “So that, especially the section down toward Twin Beech is in really poor shape and the section south of Twin Beech to the south end of the soccer complex is original asphalt from when that road was built 2002 or 3, so it’s got 17 years on it and it’s due for a resurfacing as well, so we think it’s a good project.”
Johnson said the grant would only cover construction costs, but the city could do most of the design and engineering work that would be needed for the project.
Councilman Jack Burrell said that if the project is approved, the city could continue the paving work farther south.
“I definitely think we need to apply for this grant, and I like this, but when we get the money, if we expanded the project to extend it to County Road 34, it just seems more natural,” Burrrell said. “That’s probably about another eighth of a mile maybe isn’t it. Just to extend it down.”
Johnson said that if the grant is approved the city would not have to pay any portion of the costs, but if officials wanted to extend the repaving project south, the city would have to pay the additional costs, but the city would already have crews in place and additional work could be done without much more expense.
“The opportunity costs would just be the additional tonnage because the mobilization is going to be the same whether you pave two miles or two and a quarter miles,” Johnson said.
