Gulf Shores City Council unanimously voted to approve a cooperative maintenance agreement with Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) concerning sidewalks on Hwy. 182, aka Beach Boulevard, which will "speed up the permitting process.”

Clint Colvin, capital program director for Gulf Shores, presented the item to council at the Feb. 3 council work session. The item was set to be voted on at the Feb. 10 council meeting.

Colvin explained how, at the time of the meeting and in the past, new sidewalks proposed for Beach Boulevard required execution of individual maintenance agreements with ALDOT before the permit could be approved.

"This agreement (being voted on by the council) will be, basically, a blanket agreement for all the sidewalks in the entirety of Hwy. 182 right of way within the city limits," Colvin said.

A similar agreement with ALDOT was previously approved by council. That agreement, unanimously approved at the Nov. 25 city council meeting, concerned sidewalk installation on Hwy. 59.

As previously reported by Gulf Coast Media, Colvin said this type of agreement has been made in a few other cities as well.

"If executed, we wouldn't have to go back to ALDOT every time in the future when we have a new sidewalk going in," Colvin said at the Feb. 3 meeting.

Sidewalks constructed off Hwy. 59, and now Hwy. 182, will still have to receive an ALDOT maintenance agreement before sidewalk projects can be permitted.