By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor

The Alabama Department of Transportation is no longer planning to widen U.S. 31 to six lanes from Alabaster to Hoover, but is instead planning an “enhanced four-lane” setup for the road, according to Pelham Mayor Gary Waters.

During an Oct. 22 meeting with the city’s business owners at the Pelham Civic Complex, Waters said “there has been a total engineering reset” of ALDOT’s original proposal to add two additional lanes to U.S. 31 between Interstate 65 in Alabaster to Riverchase Parkway in Hoover.

Waters said ALDOT modified the project after a negative backlash from business owners and residents in Alabaster, Hoover and Pelham after unveiling the six-lane proposal in 2012.

“We found out we were all in agreement. Not everyone was enamored with making U.S. 31 (from Alabaster to Hoover) a six-lane thoroughfare,” Waters said.

The original plan would have eliminated several current median crossovers from the stretch of heavily traveled highway, and would have limited access points along U.S. 31. Many business owners along U.S. 31 in Pelham, Alabaster and Hoover voiced opposition to the original plan, as it would have limited access points to business along the stretch of highway.

Waters said the new plan would leave the current four travel lanes and medians intact, but would add longer turn lanes, more crosswalks and sidewalks along both sides of the road.

If the project is approved, it will be funded completely with federal money, and would bring no expense to the municipalities involved, Waters said.

Waters also said a proposal to straighten out the Shelby County 52-U.S. 31 intersection, and add a flyover over the pair of railroad crossings on Shelby County 52 west of U.S. 31 is “back on the table at the expense of the (Shelby County) 261 widening project.”

Waters said ALDOT decided to focus on the Shelby County 52 flyover instead of the proposed Shelby County 261 widening after estimating how many drivers each project would impact.

“Do I think I’ll see (the flyover) in my lifetime? No,” Waters said.