By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

The Alabama Department of Transportation has tentatively included several Shelby County road widening and improvement projects in its five-year budgeting plan for the 2020 fiscal year and beyond, according to its Transportation Improvement Plan documents.

ALDOT continuously develops five-year project plans outlining which fiscal years it would like to fund certain projects, although the projects aren’t guaranteed to happen on the years outlined in the plan, since many are dependent on funding and right-of-way acquisition.

The agency’s current five-year plan covers the 2018-2022 fiscal years, which run from October through September. ALDOT currently is in its 2019 fiscal year

Some projects in the five-year plan, such as the widening of Interstate 65 between Pelham and Alabaster and adding bike lanes in Oak Mountain State Park, are already under way.

ALDOT lists the following projects for its 2020 fiscal year and beyond:

-Guardrail and railroad crossing improvements on Shelby County 11 from U.S. 31 to Shelby County 68 in Alabaster (Fiscal year 2020).

-Widening and resurfacing Shelby County 11 from U.S. 31 to Weatherly Way in Alabaster and Pelham (Fiscal years 2020-2022).

-Intersection improvements at Shelby County 12 and Shelby County 22 in Calera (Fiscal years 2019-2020).

-Additional lanes on Valleydale Road from U.S. 31 to Riverchase Parkway East in Pelham and Hoover (Fiscal year 2020).

-Resurfacing Valleydale Road from I-65 to Caldwell Mill Road and on Bear Creek road from U.S. 280 to Alabama 25 in North Shelby (Fiscal year 2020).

-Widen Shelby County 29 from Heatherwood Drive to Acton Road and bridge replacement over the Cahaba River in North Shelby (Fiscal years 2019-2020).

-Additional lanes on Valleydale Road from Caldwell Mill Road to Inverness Center in Hoover (Fiscal year 2020).

-Congestion management traffic system including CCTV and radar on I-65 from exits 246 to 261 (Fiscal year 2020).

-Bridge widening on I-65 south of exit 228 in Calera (Fiscal years 2020-2022).

-Bridge widening on I-65 north of U.S. 31 in Calera (Fiscal years 2020-2022).

-Bridge widening on I-65 south of U.S. 31 in Alabaster (Fiscal years 2020-2022).

-Buck Creek Trail extension in Alabaster (Fiscal year 2020).

-Helena trail systems near the CSX railroad (Fiscal years 2019-2020).

-Grading, drainage and bridge work for the Calera northern bypass from Alabama 25 to U.S. 31 (Fiscal years 2020-2022).

-Additional lanes on Alabama 119 from Shelby County 80 to Shelby County 26 in Alabaster (Fiscal year 2020).

-Additional lanes on Alabama 261 from Bearden Road to U.S. 31 in Pelham (Fiscal year 2020).

-Grading, drainage, base, bridge work and paving for the Helena bypass from Shelby County 52 to Alabama 261 (Fiscal years 2021-2022).

-Intersection improvements at Alabama 261 and Shelby County 52 in Helena (Fiscal years 2020-2021).

-U.S. 31 bridge replacement over Peavine Creek and the CSX railroad south of Shelby County 52 in Pelham (Fiscal years 2020-2022).

To view ALDOT’s full five-year plan for Shelby County, visit https://cpmsapps.dot.state.al.us/OfficeEngineer/ProjectReports/FypRpts/59Fyp.pdf.