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By NOAH WORTHAM | Managing Editor

ALABASTER – The Alabaster City Council approved a professional services agreement with Sain and Associates, Inc to provide survey and design work for improvements to Kent Dairy Road.

The city plans to install improvements at the intersection of Highway 119 and Kent Dairy Road after receiving the results of a traffic operations study in May 2024.

“For a lot of Ward 5 residents, for a lot of Alabaster residents, that is sometimes a difficult intersection to navigate,” said Jamie Cole, Alabaster city councilmember for Ward 5. “We’re going to be looking at that over the next couple of years and we don’t have that in the budget yet but this is the beginning of the surveying and engineering for that project so that we can have it teed up when the funds are available.”

Some of the improvements the city is interested in include a restriping of the intersection, widening of Kent Dairy Road to allow for dedicated eastbound through and left turn lanes, conversion of the Central State Bank driveway on Kent Dairy Road to a right-in/right-out and modifications to the existing traffic signal including an upgrade to mast arm signal poles.

A full breakdown of the project includes the following for a total budget of $135,545:

• Topographic Survey- lump sum $24,000
• Roadway Plans – lump sum $39,000
• Traffic Signal Modification Plans – lump sum $17,500
• Drainage – Lump sum $5,000
• Utility Coordination – Lump sum $7,000
• Permitting, meetings and coordination – lump sum $12,000
• Geotechnical Exploration – lump sum $12,495
• Contract documents, advertising and bidding – lump sum $8,500
• Construction administration –  hourly with maximum budget of $10,050

As a result of the need for improvements, the Alabaster City Council unanimously approved an agreement with the engineering firm Sain and Associates, Inc. for a professional services agreement for survey and design for Kent Dairy Road in the amount not to exceed $135,545.

“You will see us continue to move projects forward as far engineering and getting things teed up but this does not mean that this is anywhere close to (us) being able to afford this project,” Alabaster Mayor Scott Brakefield said during pre-council. “We just want to get engineering done, the research done—have it all plotted out, ready to go to where, in the future when money is available, (we can move forward).”