Commission approves right-of-way resolutions for Sterrett bridge project

Published 9:24 am Tuesday, March 9, 2021

COLUMBIANA – Several resolutions came before the Shelby County Commission at its March 8 meeting, including one related to roads in a subdivision undergoing de-annexation and two concerning right-of-way matters for a railway bridge replacement project.

On Monday, March 8, the Commission approved first a resolution stating it agrees to accept roads within the subdivision known as Summer Place for the maintenance and inclusion in the county’s public roads inventory following the subdivision’s de-annexation from the Pelham city limits.

Shelby County Engineer Randy Cole described it as “a very unusual circumstance” because, as detailed in the resolution, the Commission previously had approved the original construction plans and inspected the roads and improvement construction.

“We have a very strict policy on how we accept roads,” Cole said. “The difference on this one was this subdivision originally came through our planning commission. It went through the process and was approved by the planning commission.”

Cole said his office approved the plans and his inspectors oversaw the construction of the subdivision, which was platted in the mid-1990s.

“As we were waiting for the plat to be sent to us to sign, they took it to Pelham and Pelham signed it,” he said. “There would have been no reason we didn’t accept these on the front end, so coming back to us is not a problem.”

The Commission also approved a resolution for the acquisition of an easement for the Norfolk-Southern railway bridge replacement project on Shelby County 55 in Sterrett.

The project involves the replacement of the bridge and nearly 1,146 feet of reconstructed and resurfaced approaches to the bridge, according to earlier reports.

Regarding the same project, the Commission passed another resolution to approve and accept right-of-way acquisitions to date in the form of donations and purchases.

In other business, the Commission approved an agreement with CSX Transportation Inc. concerning the construction of a preemption connection between the traffic signal the county is installing at the intersection of Shelby County 11 and Shelby County 36 in Chelsea and the train signals CSX owns at the intersection.

“The proximity of that signal to the railroad is such that we’re going to need to install a preempt, and what that does is if a train is coming, it will make sure there’s a green signal on 11 so that traffic doesn’t back up across the track,” Cole said. “This is just an agreement with CSX to formalize that preempt.”