Tuscaloosa Renames Street To Honor Robert N. Almon Sr.

TUSCALOOSA, AL — The City of Tuscaloosa on Friday held a street renaming for 21st Avenue, which will now be known as Almon Avenue in honor of Robert N. Almon Sr.

“I can’t tell you how much my father loved the City of Tuscaloosa,” Robert Almon said at Friday's ceremony. “Every morning, people wake up in this city, turn the water on, use the restroom, cross one of the bridges or drive down Jack Warner or Rice Mine Road, he really made an impact and I'm proud of that.”

Almon was born on May 3, 1933 in Selma and received degrees in civil engineering from the University of Alabama, before becoming a professional engineer and serving in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, where he retired as a Lieutenant Colonel.

Almon also founded Almon Associates, Inc. and the Tuscaloosa Testing Laboratory — which now goes under the name TTL He is also credited with work on the planning and implementation of several projects around Tuscaloosa such as the Tuscaloosa Riverwalk, the Tuscaloosa Downtown Revitalization Project and the NorthRiver Water Supply Project at Lake Tuscaloosa.

Other projects included work on the first sewage collection system for the City of Tuscaloosa and the widening of 15th Street in Tuscaloosa from a two-lane street to a six-lane urban thoroughfare

Almon died in 2014 at the age of 81.

“What you see on our riverfront and what you see downtown, the genesis of that belongs to Bob Almon,” Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox said. “Those were Bob Almon’s ideas and vision that made the Amphitheater, the River Market, the Riverwalk, the Government Plaza, the Federal Courthouse. All of those things that you see is because Bob Almon had a vision to make it happen.”

TTL CEO Jason Walker also praised Almon for being forward-looking — a trait that left an indelible impact on the city.

“As you start from the river and you come all the way up to the Almon Building," Walker said, "a lot of worthy people and city forefathers had things named after them, but I can’t think of one more appropriate than this street named after someone who was able to plan and design everything along 21st.”

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