County, cities working on Eastern Shore infrastructure projects

Posted

FAIRHOPE – Baldwin County will join with Spanish Fort and Fairhope to pay part of the costs of two planned infrastructure projects on the Eastern Shore.

The County Commission voted Tuesday, Dec. 7, to pay portions of the state Transportation Improvement Program grants for sidewalk extensions on Jimmy Faulkner Drive in Spanish Fort. The county will also pay part of the costs of a new traffic circle at the intersection of Baldwin County 13 and Baldwin County 32 in Fairhope.

In each case, part of the area where improvements are planned is in the city’s corporate limits and a portion is in the unincorporated area under the county jurisdiction, Joey Nunnally, county engineer, said.

In the Spanish Fort project, the city applied for a TAP grant to extend sidewalks from Dunlin Avenue to Spanish Fort Middle School. The total cost of the project is expected to be $756,578, according to city reports. The grant will pay 80% of the cost, leaving $159,315 to be paid by the city and county.

Nunnally said that while the city applied for the grant, the county is responsible for a portion of the road.

“Spanish Fort actually put an application to build a sidewalk on Jimmy Faulkner Drive,” Nunnally told commissioners at a Dec. 6 work session. “We actually did not know anything about it at the time, but they actually were successful in getting it. So, they reached out to us because Jimmy Faulkner Drive is very cut up, some of it’s in the county, some of it’s in the city, county, city, county, city.”

Nunnally said the county share of the cost is expected to be about $96,000.

Spanish Fort Mayor Mike McMillan said city and county officials are still discussing maintenance responsibilities for the project.

He said the grant wording calls for Spanish Fort to maintain the sidewalk and cut the grass on the right of way. The city cannot maintain a road or sidewalk that is county property, he said.

“We should not be on their property cutting,” McMillan said. “I’m not sure legally that’s right for us to do that.”

The county also agreed to work with Fairhope on the construction of the traffic circle planned at Baldwin County 13 and Baldwin County 32. The Fairhope City Council voted Oct. 25 to enter into an intergovernmental agreement with the county to share costs and responsibilities for maintenance on the project.

Under the agreement, Fairhope will landscape the site, including providing irrigation to water plants in the center of the roundabout and the county will pay construction costs, including the cost of building two exits that lead to city streets, according to the agreement.