By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

Crews are set to begin repaving Shelby County 17 between Montevallo and Alabaster in the next few months, after the Shelby County Commission voted during its Oct. 22 meeting to provide a funding match for the federal grant to cover the project.

Commission members voted unanimously during the meeting to approve an agreement with the Alabama Department of Transportation to complete the repaving project. Through the agreement, the county agreed to pay an about $284,000 match to obtain an about $1.4 million Alabama Transportation Rehabilitation Improvement Program grant to resurface a portion of the roadway.

Once completed, the project will repave an about 4.4-mile stretch of Shelby County 17 from its intersection with Shelby County 22 in Montevallo to its intersection with Kent Dairy Road in Alabaster’s Maylene community.

Shelby County Engineer Randy Cole said crews likely will begin the repaving project in early spring, as temperatures in the winter months make it difficult to lay asphalt.