Shelby County and The American Village are partnering to build a $6 million replica of Independence Hall at the Montevallo site.

Design on the project is expected to begin in 2010, with construction bids going out in 2011.

The replica is another phase of the Village’s growth plan, which included the National Veterans Cemetery and is slated to include a visitor’s center and a colonial coffee house.

The project is expected to be funded by a 50-cent increase on drivers’ licenses and identification cards that went into effect in July.

New details of the project are expected to be announced by Feb. 15, the date of the Village’s annual President’s Day celebration.

“We at the staff level are putting together a plan for review by our board and other early in the year,” said The American Village Executive Director Tom Walker. “Right now we continue to work on aspects of that plan … We are reviewing the results of focus groups held with veterans and other to design the experience to have a maximum visitor impact.”

Independence Hall is a national landmark where the Declaration of Independence was drafted and signed.

The Hall was also home to the Liberty Bell.