A look ahead: Studies, project kick-offs planned for 2018

In the next year, Mountain Brook has many infrastructure projects planned around the city. 

Three that have been in discussion since 2017 are the sidewalk system, the Jemison Trail bridge and the Canterbury Road closure.

After operating under the same, albeit updated, Master Sidewalk Plan since the late 1990s, the Mountain Brook City Council adopted a new sidewalk plan in 2017 to address sections that both it and community members feel should have sidewalks.

In a City Council meeting Nov. 27, council members approved the application for two grants. The first, a Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) grant, would help fund the construction of a sidewalk along Dunbarton Drive from Locksley Drive to North Woodridge Road. 

City Manager Sam Gaston said this section probably wouldn’t be started until at least two years down the road and would cost the city about $205,000.

The second grant is a Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ) grant for Pine Ridge Road. If awarded this grant, the city would pay approximately $540,000 of a total price of $2.7 million and the project would start about five years from now.

Gaston said in the meantime, the Public Works Department will work to accomplish some smaller sections in-house, such as connecting Oakdale Road to Ridge Crest Road or adding sidewalks along a portion of Vine Street. 

This will help move the plan along while waiting for grants and without using up a large chunk of budgeted expenses, he said.

The city will look at creating a new plan for the Jemison Trail bridge. Originally bid out in July 2017 after many adjustments to the location and foundation, Gaston said the council rejected all bids due to the price.

Gaston said the city has $108,000 budgeted for elements of the project such as engineering, construction and inspection, and they are in contact with an anonymous donor who is willing to pay for the cost of the bridge itself.

To try to lower the total cost of the project, Gaston said they will be revisiting the original plans and making any changes before sending the project out for bid again.

This is expected to delay the project by approximately a year, Gaston said.

The city is also expected to analyze the closure of Canterbury Road from Village Circle to Cahaba Road in Mountain Brook Village. That portion of the road has been closed to traffic since July 2017 as a way to determine whether or not the ongoing roundabouts project would be effective for traffic in the immediate area. 

Gaston said the city has gotten feedback since the closure was put into effect, but the longer the road has been closed, the less responses he has received.

“I’ve gotten occasionally a letter of somebody who thinks we should open it back up, but not tremendous feedback,” he said. 

He added the merchants along Canterbury Road provided the city with improvement ideas, such as landscaping the closure and adding a sign at the end of the road, which he said the city immediately took care of.

The council voted to maintain the closure through Jan. 9, after which Gaston said they will look at traffic data and proceed based on whether or not the closure was found to be effective for the roundabouts project.