DAPHNE — Local residents gathered at Daphne High School Thursday to view a design for the expansion project of Alabama Highway 181.

The Alabama Department of Transportation is turning Alabama 181 into a four-lane, median-divided highway. The new highway will be adjacent to the existing highway, according to assistant division engineer Jackie Glasgow.

The medians will be raised and have “safety noses” at each end. A safety nose is a concrete rounded point that slopes down to the road, according to Frances Taylor, civil engineer with ALDOT.

“The traffic volume is growing tremendously,” Glasgow said, of the need for expansion.

Work will begin at the north end of Alabama 181 because that has the highest volume of traffic, Glasgow said.

Currently, 15,000 vehicles a day travel on Alabama 181 between U.S. 90 and Baldwin County Road 64, according to Glasgow. That number is expected to increase.

ALDOT representatives predict that local commercial and residential developments will cause daily traffic to grow to more than 28,000 vehicles by 2027, Glasgow said.

Work will be done in four phases: Phase one will start by the intersection of U.S. 90 and continue to Baldwin 64; phase two will start at Baldwin 64 and end at Alabama 104; phase three will start at Alabama 104 and end at Baldwin 32; and phase four will start at Baldwin 32 and end at U.S. 98 in Fairhope, according to Glasgow.

ALDOT plans to begin work on phase one in the middle of 2008; phase two work will begin in the fall of 2008. Work for the last two phases will begin in the fall of 2011, according to Glasgow.

The project will cost a projected $77 million. The Baldwin County Commission gave $13.4 million to help purchase rights-of-way, according to Glasgow. The state will fund the remaining amount.

While planning the new highway, ALDOT has worked under the federal guidelines of the National Environmental Policy Act. ALDOT has looked at the impact of the new highway on groups that might be affected by it, including historical properties and sites, wetlands and endangered species, Glasgow said.

Property near the Malbis area, for instance, has been deemed historic. Old cinder-block buildings near the intersection of Alabama 181 and Baldwin 64 have been declared as eligible for historic sites, Glasgow said.

With the Malbis sites, the highway will be moved to the east and by Baldwin 64, the highway will be moved to the west.

Thursday’s hearing was the fourth and final public hearing for the project’s design.