Construction temporarily rerouting traffic

Community members looking to visit Mountain Brook Village may have noticed increased construction within the former Mountain Brook Shopping Center, specifically near the existing Regions Bank.

Construction crews are working to upgrade an underground culvert by widening and modernizing it to help with drainage in the Lane Parke area, since it is in a flood plain, said city GIS manager Hunter Simmons. 

Crews also are working on building the new Regions Bank, which will be in the parking lot near the existing building. Once the new building is complete, Regions will be transferred, and the existing building will be demolished, Simmons said.

In the meantime, drivers may be winding through different routes to shop at local stores, such as Western Market and others in the Lane Parke shopping center. Simmons said the entrances to Lane Parke on Lane Park Road are open, and drivers can still access the new Western Market via Montevallo Road.

“It’s the same road, it just kind of meanders through traffic,” Simmons said regarding the connection from Montevallo Road. “And they’ve got up signs and fences, but it kind of pops right out into the Western parking lot.”

Although the road may shift while construction is being completed on the culvert and the new Regions Bank, Simmons said it would remain open. Shoppers also can access the Lane Parke area via entrances on Lane Park Road. Construction eventually will continue to Lane Park Road, but Simmons said the road will not be shut down.

The plan is to complete both the culvert and the new Regions Bank building about 2018, and soon after that the abandoned Regions Bank will be demolished and Jemison Lane will be opened to Culver Road, Simmons said. Phase 2 of Lane Parke shopping center construction is scheduled to begin in 2019 with the demolition of Rite Aid.