Alabaster OKs project for new sidewalks

Published 8:26 am Tuesday, April 10, 2018

By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – A project to add new sidewalks near Alabaster’s Shelby Baptist Medical Center likely will begin in the next several weeks, after the City Council approved a construction bid for the project during an April 9 meeting.

Council members voted unanimously during the meeting to award a $285,239 bid from Triple J Construction to construct sidewalks and landscaping along Second Street Northeast from Fifth Avenue Northeast to Seventh Avenue Northeast between Shelby Baptist and the Alabaster Landing shopping center. Triple J was the lowest of five bids received for the project, and was lower than the city anticipated, said Alabaster City Manager Brian Binzer.

Second Street Northeast runs south of the main Shelby Baptist campus off U.S. 31, and ties into the Alabaster Landing development, which includes the Jimmy John’s, Pizza Hut, Planet Smoothie and Taziki’s restaurants.

The majority of the project is being funded by an Alabama Department of Transportation grant, with portions of the funding coming from the city and Shelby Baptist.

Once the sidewalks are completed, they will feature lighting similar to the pedestrian areas at the hospital, Binzer said.

Binzer said the construction company will have a preconstruction conference with engineering firm Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood within 30 days, and said construction likely will begin in late May. The project likely will be completed by the end of this summer, Binzer said.

City leaders said adding sidewalks along Second Street will promote pedestrian traffic from the hospital to Alabaster Landing while also encouraging future development south of the hospital.