The resurfacing project will affect the road between its intersections with Alabama 21 and, east of that, with U.S. 431. DOT spokeswoman Rebecca Leigh White said she wasn’t sure when exactly the project will begin. The department will accept bids for the work until May 25, then spend between six and eight weeks reviewing those bids before choosing the project’s contractor.
The work, which could include the installation of new rumble strips, will cause lane closures and traffic delays during the 60 days it takes to complete the repaving, White said.
She called the project “routine maintenance” that is necessary because the highway hasn’t been repaved since the 1990s.
Local officials, including Oxford Project Manager Fred Denning and Jack Plunk with the East Alabama Regional Planning Commission, didn’t know much about the project.
Plunk said he remembered discussing it in a past meeting but didn’t have any other details.
The cost estimate for the project is between $2 million and $2.5 million, White said.
“It’s really not even a big job,” the DOT spokeswoman said. “It’s just a normal resurfacing.”
