Alabama

[Voyager75]

The ALDOT article mentions 65/Lakeshore will be Jefferson County's 2nd DDI.  Where's the first?

The first in the state was on I-10 down near Mobile:
https://www.google.com/maps/@30.6631771,-87.8518044,534m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDQyNi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

The diamond it replaced had already been a dual carriageway, so ALDOT just simply reused the existing bridges over I-10 rather than replacing them.

As someone who drives over this DDI 2-3 times a week I wished ALDOT would have expanded the bridge a little as it's tight during heavy traffic times. This limited northbound AL-181 to 2 lanes only as the third is strictly for I-10 West. Guess the engineers didn't feel like 3 lanes would be effective with the space they had. Quite often someone has to force their way over from the I-10 only lane as they want to stay on 181. On AL-181 south all three lanes continue through with an option for I-10 East.

[Charles2]

It is likely too soon to show construction of the Lakeshore Parkway extension: https://www.google.com/maps/@33.3799494,-86.9366916,397m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDQxOS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D. Also, does anyone know what those two stub intersections west of Lakeshore Parkway are (or were) to be?

Been a long time but I think it was just for planned commercial development that never materialized.

I drive Lakeshore/Morgan/CR 52 to and from work every day and have for 20+ years.  This project is long overdue...now, if Shelby County could widen CR 52 from Helena to the Jefferson County line before I retire in 3 years...

[Voyager75]

AL-161 South Intercostal Waterway Bridge will be opened by the end of next week.

https://www.aldotnews.com/2026/05/07/sr-161-beach-express-detour-starts-may-10-in-baldwin-county-what-drivers-need-to-know-before-heading-to-the-coast/

Detours will be in place for the first part of next week as they reconfigure all the lanes for the appropriate directions. Interesting to see in that video that only East AL-180 Orange Beach is displayed at the new traffic circle at the bottom of the bridge. No indication of AL-161 South continuing as well. I guess ALDOT still considers the one mile segment between the bridges as AL-180 only so no co-signage.

Hopefully I'll be over there next weekend to check it all out.

[Plutonic Panda]

More grants awarded as part of the rebuild Alabama initiative:

https://governor.alabama.gov/newsroom/2026/05/governor-ivey-advances-infrastructure-statewide-with-7-6-million-in-rebuild-alabama-grants/

[noelbotevera]

Not sure if this was already posted, but I-565 widening:

https://aldotnews.com/project/i-565-widening-from-county-line-road-to-wall-triana-highway-in-madison/

Interestingly it appears that this project doesn't 6 lane the entire highway since there's still a 4 lane section between exits 10 and 7 that has no sign of construction.

[formulanone]

Not sure if this was already posted, but I-565 widening:

https://aldotnews.com/project/i-565-widening-from-county-line-road-to-wall-triana-highway-in-madison/

Interestingly it appears that this project doesn't 6 lane the entire highway since there's still a 4 lane section between exits 10 and 7 that has no sign of construction.

It's been a little slow-going for the last six months. The construction from County Line Road to Wall-Triana has finally had guardrail installed, but they haven't begun the phase of digging up much the old asphalt and laying down the new surface. It's been Jersey barriers with narrow offset lanes for the last two years.

It looked like this in April 2025, hasn't changed much since for the drivers; but there's a concrete drainage ditch in the center with the aforementioned guardrail along with some fresh pavement towards the center where all the dirt is in the photo:



(I'll look around and see if there's any more recent landing-at-HSV photos but nothing so far...)

Also, did you move to the area or just taking on a summer job? Either way, welcome to the Tennessee Valley!

[I-55]

Not sure if this was already posted, but I-565 widening:

https://aldotnews.com/project/i-565-widening-from-county-line-road-to-wall-triana-highway-in-madison/

Interestingly it appears that this project doesn't 6 lane the entire highway since there's still a 4 lane section between exits 10 and 7 that has no sign of construction.

That 4 lane section between exits 7 (Co Line Rd) and 9 (Wall Triana) is the part of I-565 that this project is widening to 6 lanes.

[noelbotevera]

Not sure if this was already posted, but I-565 widening:

https://aldotnews.com/project/i-565-widening-from-county-line-road-to-wall-triana-highway-in-madison/

Interestingly it appears that this project doesn't 6 lane the entire highway since there's still a 4 lane section between exits 10 and 7 that has no sign of construction.

It's been a little slow-going for the last six months. The construction from County Line Road to Wall-Triana has finally had guardrail installed, but they haven't begun the phase of digging up much the old asphalt and laying down the new surface. It's been Jersey barriers with narrow offset lanes for the last two years.

That year old photo is pretty much bang on. I did see new asphalt around Wall-Triana, but it's still nowhere ready. I'll have to drive by the area again, but I swear there's a part of the 4 lane section that has little evidence of construction (even though the contract covers it).

Did any of the old bridges need to be rebuilt to accommodate 6 lanes? I could understand the lengthy construction if that was the case.

Also, did you move to the area or just taking on a summer job? Either way, welcome to the Tennessee Valley!

I moved to the area on Saturday and began working on Monday (visited Atlanta on Sunday). I've done some cursory exploring of the area but haven't had time to do much. I did grab dinner at the Greenbrier Restaurant, was worth the trip.

[Voyager75]

Got to go down the new AL-161 connector and bridge yesterday in Gulf Shores. Very nice drive even with moderate traffic. All lanes are open in both directions although the northside traffic circle and reworking of the old southbound lanes into northbound aux lanes are just starting to begin. Some torn up pavement and thousands of cones to keep people off the old lanes.

Came down from US-98 and the old beach express signs have come down with new AL-161 signs in their place. Still nothing on crossroads yet.

Wished I could have gotten more pics but it was incredibly bright and sunny so most of my pics were washed out. The ones here aren't the best but it's all I got.

At the split:



At the CR-4 intersection:



ZERO AL-306/307 signs anywhere except along their short spans. Still not sure why they need to be signed and just kept hidden for maintenance reasons. CR-4 still gets main billing along the AL-306 section anyway as seen above.

Once past the new bridge AL-161 south signs disappear from this point forward until the original signs down at the former 180/161 terminus still stand on the old 1 mile connector portion between AL-180 and 182.

New EAST AL-180 sign.



This is Google street view but the FBE sign is gone and the EAST 180 is still there. I'm guessing ALDOT will eventually just change it to a END-180 shield and add a SOUTH 161 to the right of the North one.



Like at the north end the old south bound lanes south of the old toll bridge are just coned off for now. They have started tearing up the curbing but that's it.

[formulanone]

I did grab dinner at the Greenbrier Restaurant, was worth the trip.

This is the way.

[noelbotevera]

I did grab dinner at the Greenbrier Restaurant, was worth the trip.

This is the way.

Was also going to mention that I went up to New Market BBQ.

I don't think I've eaten in Huntsville proper, except for 11 PM fast food runs.

[freebrickproductions]

Did any of the old bridges need to be rebuilt to accommodate 6 lanes? I could understand the lengthy construction if that was the case.

I believe the plan is to do what they did on the Limestone County part of I-565 when they widened it a few years back and just squeeze three 11-foot lanes across the existing bridges.

Welcome to Huntsville, BTW! If you want to get some good Chinese food locally, I highly recommend China Pearl at the corner of Airport & Whitesburg.

[noelbotevera]

Did any of the old bridges need to be rebuilt to accommodate 6 lanes? I could understand the lengthy construction if that was the case.

I believe the plan is to do what they did on the Limestone County part of I-565 when they widened it a few years back and just squeeze three 11-foot lanes across the existing bridges.

Welcome to Huntsville, BTW! If you want to get some good Chinese food locally, I highly recommend China Pearl at the corner of Airport & Whitesburg.

Thanks. I see that @formulanone has changed his profile pic so there's no longer a copy of US 72. I live off of US 72, just like how I lived off of (Business) US 322 when I was up in State College and near US 11 when I lived in Chambersburg.

I drove by exit 9 and I wasn't crazy. It's 4 lanes with no sight of any new asphalt or construction. Activity picks up near Exit 7, but this is the same activity as last year and the year before. In my experience driving (~7 PM on weekends) it's...tolerable. I figure most traffic to Madison takes Exit 10 and doesn't go all the way to Decatur.

I'll check out the Chinese food but man I'm gonna miss dropping down to DC to get honest to God dim sum.
In other news, AL 255 / Research Park Boulevard looks like it's taking a very Texas approach to future extension past AL 53. There's frontage roads surrounding empty space, but it seems like development hasn't gone that far out yet. I wonder if this is supposed to be a bypass for US 231 / US 431 / Memorial Parkway?

[freebrickproductions]

In other news, AL 255 / Research Park Boulevard looks like it's taking a very Texas approach to future extension past AL 53. There's frontage roads surrounding empty space, but it seems like development hasn't gone that far out yet. I wonder if this is supposed to be a bypass for US 231 / US 431 / Memorial Parkway?

AL 255 is the northern bypass and will in theory eventually potentially possibly reach US 72 somewhere on the east side of Huntsville over Chapman Mountain. It's basically a bypass for US 72 and I-565. Sadly, the terrain and the presence of Redstone Arsenal makes building a north/south bypass of the Parkway pretty difficult.

And yeah, there ain't much construction around Exit 9 yet, west of there around Exits 8 and 7 there definitely has been for a few years now. IIRC, it's supposed to be finished next year.

[noelbotevera]

In other news, AL 255 / Research Park Boulevard looks like it's taking a very Texas approach to future extension past AL 53. There's frontage roads surrounding empty space, but it seems like development hasn't gone that far out yet. I wonder if this is supposed to be a bypass for US 231 / US 431 / Memorial Parkway?

AL 255 is the northern bypass and will in theory eventually potentially possibly reach US 72 somewhere on the east side of Huntsville over Chapman Mountain. It's basically a bypass for US 72 and I-565. Sadly, the terrain and the presence of Redstone Arsenal makes building a north/south bypass of the Parkway pretty difficult.

And yeah, there ain't much construction around Exit 9 yet, west of there around Exits 8 and 7 there definitely has been for a few years now. IIRC, it's supposed to be finished next year.

I thought I-565 is the bypass? I went out to Chattanooga this weekend and found that US 72 east of Huntsville is perfectly fine. Two traffic lights then smooth sailing all the way out to Scottsboro. I saw more development on US 431 southeast of the city, but that's probably because I can see the houses / condos popping up -- like someone zoned new residential in Simcity.

I also thought that Research Park Boulevard (or whatever road that leads to Gate 9) is the western border of Redstone Arsenal. That's already 4 lanes, so unless south of there is more Arsenal land, then the major hurdle is the Tennessee River if one were to build a US 231 bypass.

[freebrickproductions]

In other news, AL 255 / Research Park Boulevard looks like it's taking a very Texas approach to future extension past AL 53. There's frontage roads surrounding empty space, but it seems like development hasn't gone that far out yet. I wonder if this is supposed to be a bypass for US 231 / US 431 / Memorial Parkway?

AL 255 is the northern bypass and will in theory eventually potentially possibly reach US 72 somewhere on the east side of Huntsville over Chapman Mountain. It's basically a bypass for US 72 and I-565. Sadly, the terrain and the presence of Redstone Arsenal makes building a north/south bypass of the Parkway pretty difficult.

And yeah, there ain't much construction around Exit 9 yet, west of there around Exits 8 and 7 there definitely has been for a few years now. IIRC, it's supposed to be finished next year.

I thought I-565 is the bypass? I went out to Chattanooga this weekend and found that US 72 east of Huntsville is perfectly fine. Two traffic lights then smooth sailing all the way out to Scottsboro. I saw more development on US 431 southeast of the city, but that's probably because I can see the houses / condos popping up -- like someone zoned new residential in Simcity.

I also thought that Research Park Boulevard (or whatever road that leads to Gate 9) is the western border of Redstone Arsenal. That's already 4 lanes, so unless south of there is more Arsenal land, then the major hurdle is the Tennessee River if one were to build a US 231 bypass.

I believe it'll mainly be to bypass downtown and those two traffic lights on the other side of Chapman Mountain on US 72. Plus, I imagine it'll help any traffic coming down US 231/US 431 or AL 53 from Tennessee and needs to go east/west to avoid the interchange of the Parkway and I-565 or Jordan Lane in Huntsville as well when it's fully complete.

[Great Lakes Roads]

https://www.aldotnews.com/2026/05/26/public-comment-period-is-open-for-future-i-59-20-widening-project-near-fairfield/?fbclid=IwY2xjawSDd7JleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFRbzdyNm5MRDNFZWFVNERqc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHms9M_0JrOcnZwMPPgLN8WY18ZFkcUOO8hDuw1w2Ymxaa6N-HAsldUPQs1Tz_aem_hhmNQBb9lJ3GER-TIdNJbw

The Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) is proposing to widen I-59/20 between Hueytown and Fairfield.

The two-mile job adding a lane in each direction would stretch from Valley Road to Fairfield Boulevard.

The work would also include replacing two bridges at Aaron Aronov Drive and Valley Road. 

Each day, about 70,000 vehicles travel this stretch of I-59/20, prompting the need for additional capacity.

Crews will complete one direction of widening at a time.  While the southbound phase is underway, all lanes in that direction will be closed.

Local traffic should use alternate routes, while thru traffic will be directed to take I-65 to I-459 as a detour.

ALDOT will implement the contraflow method during the northbound lane construction phase. It reverses the flow of lanes on a divided highway, allowing them to carry traffic in the opposite direction.

Under this scenario, two of the four newly built southbound lanes will handle southbound traffic.  The other two will carry northbound vehicles.

Construction is currently scheduled to begin by the end of 2027 and could last up to 24 months.

An online public involvement presentation posted on ALDOT's web site offers a chance for public input. We encourage the public to take time to review those details and submit their thoughts by June 26.

[freebrickproductions]

https://www.aldotnews.com/2026/05/26/public-comment-period-is-open-for-future-i-59-20-widening-project-near-fairfield/?fbclid=IwY2xjawSDd7JleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFRbzdyNm5MRDNFZWFVNERqc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHms9M_0JrOcnZwMPPgLN8WY18ZFkcUOO8hDuw1w2Ymxaa6N-HAsldUPQs1Tz_aem_hhmNQBb9lJ3GER-TIdNJbw

The Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) is proposing to widen I-59/20 between Hueytown and Fairfield.

The two-mile job adding a lane in each direction would stretch from Valley Road to Fairfield Boulevard.

The work would also include replacing two bridges at Aaron Aronov Drive and Valley Road. 

Each day, about 70,000 vehicles travel this stretch of I-59/20, prompting the need for additional capacity.

Crews will complete one direction of widening at a time.  While the southbound phase is underway, all lanes in that direction will be closed.

Local traffic should use alternate routes, while thru traffic will be directed to take I-65 to I-459 as a detour.

ALDOT will implement the contraflow method during the northbound lane construction phase. It reverses the flow of lanes on a divided highway, allowing them to carry traffic in the opposite direction.

Under this scenario, two of the four newly built southbound lanes will handle southbound traffic.  The other two will carry northbound vehicles.

Construction is currently scheduled to begin by the end of 2027 and could last up to 24 months.

An online public involvement presentation posted on ALDOT's web site offers a chance for public input. We encourage the public to take time to review those details and submit their thoughts by June 26.

Good to hear, that spot really needs it. To be quite honest, I've always been kinda surprised that that section of I-20/I-59 has remained four lanes, especially since it's 6+ lanes north of there and six lanes south of I-459 already.

[Voyager75]

https://www.aldotnews.com/2026/05/26/public-comment-period-is-open-for-future-i-59-20-widening-project-near-fairfield/?fbclid=IwY2xjawSDd7JleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFRbzdyNm5MRDNFZWFVNERqc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHms9M_0JrOcnZwMPPgLN8WY18ZFkcUOO8hDuw1w2Ymxaa6N-HAsldUPQs1Tz_aem_hhmNQBb9lJ3GER-TIdNJbw

The Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) is proposing to widen I-59/20 between Hueytown and Fairfield.

The two-mile job adding a lane in each direction would stretch from Valley Road to Fairfield Boulevard.

The work would also include replacing two bridges at Aaron Aronov Drive and Valley Road. 

Each day, about 70,000 vehicles travel this stretch of I-59/20, prompting the need for additional capacity.

Crews will complete one direction of widening at a time.  While the southbound phase is underway, all lanes in that direction will be closed.

Local traffic should use alternate routes, while thru traffic will be directed to take I-65 to I-459 as a detour.

ALDOT will implement the contraflow method during the northbound lane construction phase. It reverses the flow of lanes on a divided highway, allowing them to carry traffic in the opposite direction.

Under this scenario, two of the four newly built southbound lanes will handle southbound traffic.  The other two will carry northbound vehicles.

Construction is currently scheduled to begin by the end of 2027 and could last up to 24 months.

An online public involvement presentation posted on ALDOT's web site offers a chance for public input. We encourage the public to take time to review those details and submit their thoughts by June 26.

Good to hear, that spot really needs it. To be quite honest, I've always been kinda surprised that that section of I-20/I-59 has remained four lanes, especially since it's 6+ lanes north of there and six lanes south of I-459 already.

The Valley Road exit bridges are extremely long and have a bend in them so it was always going to be a expensive problem expanding. So it's not surprising they're just tearing them down and rebuilding them. The interchange has a very unique design due to the angle Valley Road goes under it. It was the temporary end of the interstate for longest time back in the 70's.

TBH the next three exits southwest of there in Brighton and Bessemer are all unique with very long and spread out bridges and ramps. That's the only reason I can think of why it's taken so long.