U.S. 31 gets facelift

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, July 11, 2006

The ride for travelers headed down Highway 31 will get much smoother over the next few months.

Two railroad crossings in front of the Carmeuse Natural Lime Plant in Alabaster have been under repair this week and a repaving project will begin along Highway 31 in August.

Alabama Department of Transportation District 5 engineer John Gary Ray said the DOT asked Carmeuse Lime to fix the two railroad crossings.

&8220;We&8217;ve been after them to address those two crossings,&8221; he said. &8220;They&8217;ll replace the current crossing with concrete panels that should make them much smoother.&8221;

The project began on Monday and is scheduled to be finished tomorrow, Ray said.

The DOT is also planning a resurfacing project of Highway 31 spanning from the Interstate 65, exit 231 interchange in Calera to the Colonial Promenade shopping center intersection in Alabaster.

Ray said the project is scheduled to begin in mid-August.

&8220;It will make that entire stretch of road much smoother,&8221; he said.

A completion date for the repaving project has not been determined yet