By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor

Drivers traveling from Warrior Drive to Warrior Park in Alabaster could get a more direct route into the park as part of a plan to upgrade Thompson Road, according to Alabaster officials.

During a recent meeting, the Alabaster City Council voted to enter into a contract with the Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood engineering firm to redesign access into Warrior Park, which is located at 100 City Park Lane.

“Right now, you can’t drive from Warrior Drive straight across to Warrior Park,” said Ward 4 Councilman Rick Walters. “You have to turn left onto Thompson Road and then immediately turn right to get into Warrior Park.”

Through the agreement with Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood, the city is looking to move the entrance into the Warrior Park parking lot slightly south to allow easier access to the park from Warrior Drive. Because the current entrance into the park is near a neighborhood entrance, the change could help ease traffic congestion near the intersection, Waters said.

“A lot of it depends on where the gas lines near the park are. We’ll have to wait and see what the engineering study says,” Walters said.

The proposed change to the Warrior Drive-Thompson Road intersection is part of a plan to upgrade Thompson Road from Warrior Drive to Alabama 119.

The Thompson Road project was included on a recently released list of projects approved through the Alabama Transportation Rehabilitation and Improvement Program.

According to the ATRIP list, the Thompson Road project is estimated to cost about $2.5 million, $2 million of which will be covered by ATRIP funds.

Alabaster and Shelby County currently are working to finalize an agreement to fund the $500,000 in matching funds.

The project would add a new westbound turn lane on Thompson Road from Stadium Drive to Warrior Drive, replace the Thompson Road bridge over Buck Creek and add a sidewalk along Thompson Road from Warrior Drive to Stadium Drive.

View Thompson Road in a larger map