Drivers can expect a smoother ride on West Peachtree Avenue as major drainage repairs move forward following a recent vote by Foley City Council.

City officials said work recently started to replace collapsed storm drainage pipes that have damaged the street. Jeff Phillips, Foley's construction projects manager, said aging metal culverts buried alongside the road have deteriorated, leading to the problems.

Rather than patch only the most severely affected areas, the council voted to dig up and replace most of the old metal pipes with concrete. Mayor Ralph Hellmich said the move would create a more lasting solution and reduce the need for future maintenance.

"By going to the concrete, which is really what should be used there, this should be a permanent fix," Hellmich said. "Some of this metal pipe lasted longer than they said it would last, but this would be more of a permanent fix."

Crews have previously repaired sections of West Peachtree Avenue. Hellmich said the city has had to dig up and replace damaged pipes several times in recent years.

"Since I've been on the council, we've done two repairs," he said. "Between Cedar Street and where this one is, it's buried very, very deep here. But it's a critical piece of the drainage for the Live Oak area."

Hellmich said connecting new pipes to the older metal infrastructure would only risk more failures in the future.

"Since we've already fixed sections, this will finish it to the airport property outfall," he said. "That's great. We've also looked downstream of that, and we're in pretty good shape."

The project will involve replacing 570 feet of 54-inch metal drainage pipe with concrete piping. City officials said the improvements are expected to significantly strengthen drainage for the area and reduce the likelihood of future road damage.