Officials turn dirt on final parkway phase
Oct 14, 2009 | 2007 views | 12 
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Gov. Bob Riley uses a Caterpillar bulldozer Tuesday to break ground on the final segment of the Eastern Parkway in Anniston. Photo: Trent Penny/The Anniston Star
So Gov. Bob Riley hitched his slacks over black alligator cowboy boots, climbed on a bulldozer and plowed through a pile of red mud, marking the beginning of a much-anticipated road project.
"They say good things happen to people who wait," Riley said. "Well, we've waited long enough, and it's time to finish this."
The Eastern Parkway, which will connect Interstate 20 at Golden Springs with McClellan and Alabama 21, has been under construction for about 10 years. Local leaders had struggled with finding a funding source for its completion, leaving some to wonder whether they'd ever drive its whole length.
That all changed earlier this year when state leaders set aside federal stimulus money for the final portion of the project. Riley said using stimulus money to finish the parkway was an easy choice.
"We now have the ability to develop Fort McClellan, and there are already people who are becoming very fascinated with the possibilities," he said.
Although Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Saks, called Tuesday's groundbreaking exciting, he said the real work is only beginning. Rogers said now that leaders can stop trying to finish the road, they must prepare for the day it opens.
"We've got to make sure we're ready for the kind of economic development this road can guarantee," he said.
Local leaders have long called the Eastern Parkway the key to McClellan success. They say being able to bypass Quintard Avenue and its traffic and stop lights is attractive to developers.
Anthony Humphries, vice-chairman of the McClellan Development Authority, said the group is ready to see the Eastern Parkway completed.
"Quite frankly, we won't have any excuses a year or two down the road why we're not developing McClellan," Humphries said.
Crews are paving another section of the Eastern Parkway right now. That section will intersect with an industrial access road running through McClellan. The access road will run from the parkway to Pappy Dunn Boulevard via Iron Mountain Road. Those roads could be ready by next summer, officials said.
State Transportation Department officials said the entire parkway is scheduled to open within three to three and a half years from now.
Riley said the views along the parkway alone should be enough to lure businesses. The new road slices through a mountain and on Tuesday fall colors were just beginning to show on the trees.
"This is going to be one of the most attractive parkways you find anywhere in Alabama, if not the nation," he said. "If you were going to do business, why not come here?"
AHS1960, there is a bluured image of a map of the project under the "Similar Stories" section tagged Parkway's big day: Bid for final phase
Billy,
I saw that image it looks like the parkway will exit at US431. I hope it is true!
Thanks for that link!
Like you, I am very concerned about Anniston proper. Yes, Quintard and Noble are the heart of the city. Alas, that may become a bypass area instead of a destination. I drive up Quintard and Noble several times a week.
I am so Anniston conscious (sp) that I drive from my home in Golden Springs, a mile from Lowes and Home Depot, to the Anniston Lowes and WalMart to shop. I buy from the Golden Springs Winn Dixie or Lenlock WalMart Grocery. I buy RX at Golden Springs Pharmacy. About the only things I buy in Oxford is dinner at Garfrerick's and get my hair cut at Pat Brady's Barber Shop on 78. I drive up to the Kangaroo Station on Quintard to get gas. I drive up to the Office Depot on Quintard (or whatever it's called) to get my supplies. I like to eat at Classic and Damn Yankee's (although it is expensive)instead of those places at Exit 188.
This is excellent news. However, after years of trying to find out I still don't know what the McClellan/431 exit will look like. Will there be an overpass? What about the ridiculously long traffic light that comes out of the apartment complex right after the railroad overpass? Will those be torn down? What will be the final route (exactly, not 'approximately') from McClellan to 431?
To residents like myself that live within a block of 431, how will the increased traffic level look like?
Frank,
I think the 431 exit for the parkway was deleted a couple of years ago when the powers that be were trying to get the costs down. Even though the state bought the property where the overpass would end on 431 (Southtrust Bank on 21, the small strip mall, the car lot and a few other places on 431) they will now sit vacant. The parkway will end at highway 21.
If you want to get on the parkway from 431, you will have to turn left at the 431/21 intersection and drive past the old Summerall gate and enter the parkway there.
I am sorry that they powers that be did not rebid the project(since the cost was several million below projection) and include that overpass.
I could be wrong, but I believe that is the current status of the parkway.
Oh well....
Excellent news? More like the final nail in the city of Anniston's coffin. I just hope, when all of the traffic is routed aroud Anniston, that they have a way to get people to come INTO the city for something. Take a lesson from what happened to Birmingham when the I-459 beltway was built. The commercial entities in the city moved OUT of the city and took their tax dollars with them. Shelby county blew up, and even the oldest monument to the city, the Barons, moved out of town. Now, they are finally trying to do something to get businesses to consider Birmingham as something other than a suburb of Shelby county. So, what's out gimmick going to be?
Billy,
Isn't the entire parkway inside the city limits? It might stimulate growth along the parkway but it will still be within the city limits I think. I think that Anniston is more than Quintard and Noble, don't you?
This is not meant as a flame, just thinking....
Yet another hypocrite Republican trying to take credit for stimulus projects they railed against.
You would think the star would do better reporting on this. There are so many questions that involve investigative reporting and this paper just does not do the job!
To residents like myself that live within a block of 431, how will the increased traffic level look like?