A major road project that will cut right through downtown could be coming to Pell City in the near future.

The Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) recently announced plans to resurface and restripe U.S. 78 (Cogswell Ave.) from I-20 to U.S. 231 in Pell City. The 3.2-mile project will extend from the Eden Exit (156) to the U.S. 231 overpass near the former Avondale Mills property. The project is being conducted entirely by ALDOT and will not require funding from Pell City.

During the Pell City City Council meeting on Nov. 23, the Council approved a resolution that concurs with ALDOT’s tentative project plan. Street Department Director Greg Gossett told the Council he had been in contact with ALDOT on the project and supported it, but warned that it will at some points impede traffic flows and business access in the city.

“There will be awkward times,” Gossett said. “You’re going to get calls because of this.”

Plans for the project call for potential detours and lane closures, and Gossett said some businesses would be impacted as work occurs right outside their front doors.

The work will be “curb-to-curb,” Gossett said, which means parking spaces will be removed and repainted in downtown. Work will also include resurfacing connections to side streets and rebuilding access to sidewalks to make them American Disability Act-compliant through the business district.

At the conclusion of the project, the city will have a smooth surface all the way into town, which Council members agreed was a needed improvement.

“That’s a problem that’s as bad as anything in my mind,” Council member Jay Jenkins said.

Jenkins added that he believed tractor-trailer and large truck traffic on the route was a sizable contributor to the deteriorated road condition, and he requested actions be taken to better mark the City’s truck route.

Gossett said ALDOT has not determined a date to let the project, but plans set Independence Day and Thanksgiving weekend as non-working holidays, which likely means the project will last well into 2016.