For years, local governments have been working on a way to improve access to Veterans Parkway, or more importantly, Jefferson State Community College, Col. Robert L. Howard Veterans Home and St. Clair County’s only hospital, St. Vincent’s St. Clair.

Right now, access to the parkway from U.S. 231 is only available via Hazelwood Drive, a road in unincorporated St. Clair County. The narrow, two-lane path winds through a neighborhood before the turn to the hospital opens up.

To provide better access, the City of Pell City and the St. Clair County Commission entered into an agreement in May 2014 that would create a new road – or Extension as it’s called in the agreement – with direct access from U.S. 231 to Veterans Parkway. instead of following the southward bend into the neighborhood, it cuts a straight path through several properties in the area. And residents received their first look at the plans this week.

During the Pell City City Council meeting on March 28, Project Manager Daniel Mayfield with EEFS Company in Bessemer presented designs approved by the Alabama Department of Transportation for the road. Mayfield told the Council that all preliminary testing had been completed, and the project would soon move into the acquisition process. That means the Commission is about to start purchasing land for the road’s rights-of-way.

“It’s the County’s duty to perform acquisition on project,” Mayfield said. “Contact has been made with all property owners, and generally many are receptive to the project.”

In the 2014 agreement, the City said it would pay for the design work and will pay the $250,000 matching cost for the $1.25 million project, with the Federal Highway Administration picking up the rest of the tab. The project will remain under the supervision of the County until work is complete, at which time the Extension will be transferred to Pell City.

And that’s important.

“The parcels (on the new road) are excellent commercial prospects and therefore will require sewer and fire suppression, so I believe that drive will bring many parcels into the City as they develop or prepare to develop,” City Manager Brian Muenger said.

Essentially, this new road will turn empty land into a prime area for development simply by creating an ease of access. And bringing these parcels into the City would come with numerous benefits. So, bringing them into City Limits even before the project is complete is a priority.

“Alternately, the area could be legislatively annexed or annexed en masse voluntarily to allow for the zoning to be applied,” Muenger said. “There is certainly a benefit to zoning this important corridor in advance to ensure it is developed in a cohesive and organized manner.”

Mayfield said the process of working with federal and state transportation agencies can be a delayed process, but he said with the pathway defined that work could be just around the corner.

“I think by end of next year this thing could be let to contract,” he told the Council.