Northport Officials Give Updates On Highly Anticipated Street Projects

NORTHPORT, AL — Few Northport talking points are mentioned as often as the quality of city streets and, with several major infrastructure projects in the works, city leaders this week provided a wide range of updates to answer lingering questions in the community.

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District 1 Councilwoman Christy Bobo and Northport City Engineer Tera Tubbs took to Facebook on Wednesday for a brief Q&A session to discuss the numerous projects, which include improvements to Main Avenue, Lurleen B. Wallace Boulevard and Fifth Street.

Here's our takeaways ...

MAIN AVENUE

Funded to the tune of $6 million through a matching grant from the Tuscaloosa Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), improvements planned for Main Avenue stalled in 2022 due to unexpected findings regarding soil under the road in the project's initial phases.

Still, despite the setbacks, delays and unforeseen costs, Tubbs was optimistic that work could begin in phases in 2023 and will not see the entire street shut down at once.

Tubbs did, however, point out the present challenges for the Main Avenue project, namely the structures along the right-of-way, including Northport Baptist and several apartment buildings, just to name a few.

Since funding for the project was secured by way of a matching grant from the MPO, the long list of requirements by the federal government have an impact on how fast the project moves along.

For those unfamiliar with MPO matching grants, they are federal aid dollars administered by the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) to municipalities and counties to provide 80% of funding on eligible projects, with the remaining 20% coming from city coffers.

For example, the MPO is contributing funds for the ongoing resurfacing of Charlie Shirley Road, while Watermelon Road — another proposed MPO matching grant project — is still going through the permitting and approval process with ALDOT.

"When you have those [MPO] dollars, there's many different boxes that ALDOT has to check to meet those guidelines, so it takes a lot longer to get those projects under construction," she said.

Tubbs mentioned the delays in the project due to the governmental red tape, but said it is advantageous for the city's taxpayers to get 80 cents on the dollar for the project, especially at a time when they city is using its own 1-cent sales tax revenue to fund three new large-scale recreation projects within the city limits.

"We're looking at what things could be done, either at a later date or that may not actually be necessary and the project wouldn't suffer from those," she said of approaching the project in phases. "We're assigning costs to those, then we will sit down and prioritize."

LURLEEN B. WALLACE BOULEVARD

Tubbs said safety improvements along Lurleen B. Wallace Boulevard could represent a complicated undertaking but one that could ultimately result in improved safety for motorists and pedestrians alike.

The portion of the state route in Northport runs directly through the city and features business along the busy street that have been there for years. With this in mind, Tubbs said the City of Northport has approved for ALDOT to conduct an access management study along Lurleen B. Wallace Boulevard from the Northport side of the Hugh Thomas Bridge up to Highway 82.

She also said the city had been in discussions with the Tuscaloosa County Road Improvement Commission, which has agreed to put up $500,000 for the study.

Tubbs went on to say safety improvements to access management resulting from the study could see added medians, better signals and streetscape improvements similar to those seen on the opposite side of the Hugh Thomas Bridge in downtown Tuscaloosa.

As with most infrastructure projects, though, it won't be without its challenges.

"It's going to be tricky because if you look on the west side of the road, you'll notice some of those buildings [have] kind of steep driveways to get in, so it might be kind of tricky to get sidewalks on both sides," Tubbs said. "But we're going to do our best to make sure we get some good pedestrian [access], better lighting and really control the access and help the traffic congestion on Lurleen Wallace."

Fifth Street

It must be noted that improvements to Fifth Street are intended to align with a massive expansion of nearby Kentuck Park, which the city intends to transform into a large-scale youth sports tournament facility, complete with a wide range of multi-use amenities such as a permanent amphitheater for the annual Kentuck Festival of the Arts.

Northport's walkability has been a central focus for Tubbs in her first year as city engineer, with improvements to Fifth Street aimed at boosting safety and further connecting pedestrian access from Kentuck Park to nearby Van De Graaff Park and the Northport Farmers Market.

Another project funded by the MPO, Fifth Street will be resurfaced and will see much-needed sidewalk improvements from Main Avenue to Robert Cardinal Drive.

"If you're at Kentuck and want to walk to the Farmers Market, you'll be coming on a trail and not right up on the side of the road," Tubbs explained. "Then we're going to design it in a way that, instead of having to cross Fifth Street, you get to go under Fifth Street. You can walk under the bridge and then you'll be on the other side and we'll have a cute little covered bridge or pedestrian bridge over Mill Creek and you'll be able to go to Farmers Market, Van De Graaff Park and it's going to be a really neat project."

As Bobo and Tubbs wrapped up their informal Q&A session on the different projects, Tubbs mentioned the approach taken by the city and its elected officials to find creative ways to bring large-scale projects to fruition — projects like the proposed adventure sports park on Rose Boulevard.

As Patch previously reported, the Northport City Council in September 2021 unanimously approved the purchase of 151 acres off of Rose Boulevard for $700,000 from the Black Warrior Solid Waste Authority, with the site initially eyed to be the location for the city's proposed water park.

However, when officials considered the costs of grading down the rugged terrain, the decision was made to pivot the focus toward turning the newly acquired land into an adventure sports park, which will feature trails for hiking and cycling, along with a wide range of other outdoor amenities.

Click here to view the adventure park master plan adopted Monday night.

Tubbs said the change in plans represents a fiscally responsible approach that still aims to get the most out of the property for the taxpayers of Northport.

"I think one of the good things about Northport struggling so hard years ago financially is we understand how hard those dollars are to come by and we don't take that lightly," she said. "We take that dollar and stretch it as far as we can. Like with the adventure park, we have terrain that's up and down. We can level all that if you want to. We can spend money on moving dirt and building retaining walls or let's embrace it. People want cross country trails, mount bikers, disc golf. There's tons we can do. I think it's been great to say 'what do we have' and 'what can we do in the most cost-effective manner to serve our citizens.'"

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