By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – A project to widen Alabaster’s Thompson Road between Warrior Drive and Alabama 119 likely will begin in October and be completed by summer 2015, according to city leaders.

Alabaster is working with the Shelby County Highway Department and the Alabama Department of Transportation to widen the road, replace a bridge over Buck Creek and realign the intersection of Thompson Road and Warrior Drive to allow drivers to travel straight from Warrior Drive into a parking lot at Warrior Park.

The project will add a new westbound turn lane on Thompson Road from Stadium Drive to Warrior Drive and add a sidewalk along Thompson Road from Warrior Drive to Stadium Drive.

As part of the Thompson Road project, Alabaster leaders also are working with the county to extend the Buck Creek Trail from its current terminus near the Alabaster Parks and Recreation office to Thompson High School and the Alabaster YMCA.

The Shelby County Highway Department currently is seeking public input on the project.

Any local who would like a public involvement meeting to be scheduled for the project should write a letter requesting the meeting to Kenneth R. Cole, P.E., County Engineer, Shelby County Highway Department, 506 Highway 70, Columbiana, Alabama, 35051, Shelby County. Letters should be mailed to the attention of Thomas C. Grimes, P.E., Chief Engineer.

All requests for a public meeting must be received by Wednesday, June 25.

The road upgrades are among several renovations slated for the area around Thompson Intermediate School.

The Alabaster City School System is preparing to install a turf field at Larry Simmons Stadium and complete several drainage improvements around the stadium and TIS.