By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor

A project to widen Alabaster’s Thompson Road between Warrior Drive and Alabama 119 likely will be completed in the next several months, and currently is in the engineering phase.

Shelby County and Alabaster engineers currently are working to design the project, which will 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.

Alabaster City Manager George Henry said the project has been given Alabama Department of Transportation approval, and said the project’s completion is “many months out.”

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 together to fund the $500,000 in matching funds.