FAIRHOPE, Ala. — Route 13, one of the top issues of the Fairhope Environmental Advisory Board will be the focus of its meeting at 9 a.m., Wednesday, March 12.

“Its purpose will be to better understand the environmental safeguards that will be used during and (after) construction of Route 13,” said Jim Horner, the citizen advisory group’s chairman. “We recognize the need for additional north-south capacity, but also know that Route 13 can be constructed without destroying wetlands, or otherwise adversely impacting the Fly Creek watershed.”

The project to connect remaining segments of the two-lane county road several miles east of Fairhope with a road through areas identified as wetlands and by a bridge over Fly Creek has been a hot environmental topic the past year.

The projected length of the bridge has been increased several hundred feet to address environmental impacts caused by the construction, Horner said.

He added that a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit to build in wetlands had not yet been received from the corps’ Mobile office.

“The presentation will be given by Lawrence Wilson, county design engineer,” Horner said. “We also expect attendance by Cal Market, county engineer, Craig Martin with Wetland Sciences (from Pensacola), Joe Bullock, civil engineer with (the private firm) EDS, and Jim Bannon with Auburn Experimental Stations (much of the road will be built on property owned by the university).”

Representatives from the corps, the Alabama Department of Environmental Management and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have also been invited, he said.

The meeting has been moved from the normal meeting location of the mayor’s conference room to the City Council chambers to accommodate a larger audience.

For more information, call Kim Burmeister at 990-2877.