ALABASTER, Ala. (WIAT) -- The Alabama Department of Transportation is working on repaving parts of Highway 31 from Pelham to Calera.
ALDOT is currently repaving the portion of the road from I-65 in Alabaster to Calera. Some residents say the repaving is a necessary evil and it’s about time some work was done to fix the roads.
"Fixed all the potholes, smoother driving, keep your car from tearing up, front wheel alignment, not getting holes in tires," Shelby County resident Charlie Loyd said. "Whole state needs it really.”
"You ain’t been through Alabama too much? Potholes and everything. There you go,” Brian Popwell, who works in Alabaster, said.
The city of Alabaster says with the project running from Pelham to Calera, all of the highway that runs through Alabaster will have new pavement.
"Traffic flow and safety is really going to be greatly improved," Fred Hawkins, director of infrastructure and public services for the city of Alabaster, said. "Anytime you have brand new pavement, there’s less skidding, you’ve got brand new striping, signage, all that so it really makes for a much safer and better route.”
The city says while ALDOT is working on repaving Highway 31, Shelby County is also going through and repaving some of the county roads.
"We’re getting a big boost in pavement quality throughout our whole city,” Hawkins said.
Some people throughout Shelby County said repaving roads is a good start, but there are other fixes they want to see done as well.
"The interstate widened all the way down to Montgomery,” Popwell said.
"What I understand, they’re supposed to be taking 65 on further down to Calera, widen it out to 6 lanes, 3 lanes on each side," Loyd said. "That’s a big help with the commute every morning, every evening.”
We reached out to ALDOT for more details on the project but did not hear back.