By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – Crews likely will finish installing a traffic signal at the intersection of Alabama 119 and Shelby County 80 in September, and a project to repave and widen a portion of Thompson Road likely will begin in October, according to Alabaster officials.

Alabaster City Manager George Henry updated City Council members on several upcoming projects during a July 28 pre-meeting work session.

Henry said the city likely will open bids on the Thompson Road project in early October before moving forward with the project’s construction phase soon thereafter.

Through the project, 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.

“If awarded in the first of October, the temporary bridge will be installed before the holidays,” Henry said, noting the temporary bridge will handle traffic over Buck Creek while the new bridge is installed.

Henry also said crews likely will finish installing a new traffic signal at the intersection of Alabama 119 and Shelby County 80 in September. He said the original plan called for the signal to be installed before school started on Aug. 7.

“It’s mid-September now,” Henry said.