By MOLLY DAVIDSON / Staff Writer

HOOVER—Another project to alleviate traffic congestion is under way on Valleydale Road, county officials confirmed. Construction to add lanes to Valleydale Road between Caldwell Mill Road and Inverness Center could begin as early as summer 2017.

The project will add lanes to a three-and-a-half-mile stretch of Valleydale Road, creating a five-lane road with four throughways and a center turn lane, Shelby County Highway Department engineer Scott Holladay said.

“We’re acquiring right of way on the project right now,” Holladay said, estimating this stage could take as much as a year.

After right of way is obtained, utility lines must be relocated before construction can begin, which could take between six and eight months, Holladay said.

The Alabama Department of Transportation has budgeted $649,000 for the utility relocation phase of the project for the 2017 fiscal year and $2.55 million for construction of the additional lanes for the 2018 fiscal year.

The federal government will fund $2.6 million of the utility relocation phase and $10.2 million of the construction phase.

The project has been in the works for “at least seven or eight years” and is a much-needed improvement to that stretch of Valleydale Road, Holladay said.

Valleydale Road between Caldwell Mill Road and Inverness Center sees 20,000 cars per day, and with numerous schools and businesses in the area, drivers often experience traffic congestion, Holladay explained.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Holladay said. “(The road) sees 20,000 cars per day, which two lanes just does not handle that volume of traffic very well.”