ROBERTSDALE — The county highway department held a public hearing on Tuesday to determine any grievances with the extension of the Foley Beach Express to Interstate-10 since the route will cut through private lands. 

County officials along with representatives from Thompson Engineering of Foley and the state department of transportation guided a packed room of citizens over two lenghty tables taped with a graphic of the route at the Baldwin County Central Annex Building in Robertsdale, determining if a proposed alternate route of the extension posed any public problems. 

The extension will begin at the northern terminus of the express with 4-lanes – two lanes north and south bound – paved over Engle Road, currently a narrow dirt road. 

Then, the 4-lane express will eventually connect with County Road 83, which will also be widened to four-lanes up to County Road 64, according to Shafik Hammami, location and environmental engineer with the state highway department. 

Hammami said the state highway department will construct an interchange on I-10, connecting the interstate with 64. 

The public meeting was held to review the department’s considerations of two alternate widening proposals for the County Road 83 segment.

Hammami said that the first plan proposed required that the state purchase 19 residences and 3 businesses at a cost of $43.4 million for the entire extension project, excluding the interchange; however, the department determined that by adjusting the widening of 83 in certain sections, the state would only have to purchase 5 residences and the same businesses at a cost of $41.8.

Option two, he said, is “not official, but we think this is the preferred alternative.”

As for timetables, John Byrd, right-of-way technician with the county highway department, said that construction schedules are tentative, but the county will begin acquiring right-of-ways from the express to County Road 32 - essentially Engle Road - this fall with construction beginning 1 year later. 

Overall acquisition of right-of-ways and construction will continue until 2011, Byrd said. 

Hammami noted that the extension currently has available federal and state appropriations, adding that the project is “priority” since the route will ease hurricane evacuation.