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Council discusses fate of city's bridges, roundabout project

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Gresham, Smith and Partners.

The Mountain Brook City Council tonight spent a large part of its meeting time discussing funding for various upcoming projects. For just over an hour during the council’s pre-meeting, the council discussed both projects involving the city’s bridges and planned roundabout improvements to the intersections of Cahaba Road, U.S. Highway 280, Culver Road and Lane Parke Road.

During his presentation to the council, Blair Perry of Gresham, Smith and Partners said on the whole, Mountain Brook had done a “really good job” of maintaining each of its 12 bridges. The typical lifespan for bridges, he said, is approximately 50 years. Several of the city’s bridges, he said, are considerably older than that and are still in fairly good condition. A handful, he said, are in need of either major rehab or complete replacement. Among the bridges needing attention within the next few years, said Perry, are located at:

Perry said each of the bridges received a “sufficiency rating” score of 56 or lower. The bridge at Canterbury Road over Watkins Road received a score of 29.4; Old Brook Trail over Little Shades Creek received a score of 25.9; and Mountain Brook Parkway over Shades Creek received a score of 57.7. The scores are based on a 100-point scale.

Due to the estimated cost of the repair work needed on some of the bridges — rehabbing the bridge at Canterbury Road over Watkins Creek, for example, would cost approximately $526,000 — the council decided to turn the findings over to Finance Director Steven Boone to see how funding the projects would affect the city’s budget.

The council then heard from Andre Bittas, Director of the Planning, Engineering and Permits Department with the City of Birmingham and Alicia Bailey of Sain Associates for an update on the proposed roundabout improvements. Bittas said that although the Mayor William Bell and the council were in favor of the project — In May, the Birmingham City Council voted to reimburse Mountain Brook for half of the cost of the project — it might be wise to do some further studies of the area.

Bittas said gathering more in-depth cost estimates would ensure all parties new exactly what was expected of them. Further inquires into what the environmental impact would be on the land and just how much land the project would take from the Birmingham Zoo in right-of-way acquisition are needed, said Bittas.

Pending those studies, as well as some other revisions by Sain, the council decided to not yet vote on approving the contract with Sain for the design work. In a 4-1 — with Jack Carl dissenting — the council did approve a resolution reaffirming Resolutions 2015-164 through 167 adopted on Nov. 9, 2015 concerning the cost sharing agreement between the city, Birmingham and ALDOT. Carl said he is not in support of the project because of various issues he has with how it will be funded.

In other business, the council also:

The next regular meeting of the City Council is June 27, at 7 p.m. in the Council Chamber of City Hall located at 56 Church Street.

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