The City of Daphne and Baldwin County Commission are teaming up to address the transportation needs of residents with a new east/west connection.

Daphne and the BCC entered into a cooperative agreement, the very first step, to building an east/west connection from Milton Jones Road to Pollard Road. The hope is to alleviate County Road 64 congestion.

“There has always been a need for additional east/west corridors throughout the city,” Daphne Mayor Robin LeJeune said. “County Road 64 is extremely busy. In all our comprehensive plans, we have always looked at different ways of trying to add additional east/west corridors from State Route 181 to U.S. 98 to alleviate, with the growth, some of the traffic issues we have on 64 and throughout the city.”

The agreement is the first step and outlines financial contributions. Daphne will contribute $500,000, and $2.8 million will come from Baldwin County. Next, the city and county will begin talking with property owners about donating the right of way or purchasing the right of way to make the connection.

“We feel that we can get some property owners to donate because it increases their property value by having a main road go through there where they can look for new businesses,” LeJeune said.

Along with securing the right of way, the project will start engineering and design.

For locals who are not familiar with the area in question, Milton Jones Road runs between State Route 181 and County Road 13. The project calls for a roundabout to be built at the intersection of Milton Jones Road, County 13 and the new road connecting to Pollard Road. The new connection would make it possible to get from 181 to the intersection of Pollard Road and County Road 64 at a lighted intersection. The intersection of Pollard Road and County Road 64 will see improvements and the repaving of County Road 64 in 2024.

LeJeune said the ultimate goal would be to get the new road to U.S. 98 by connecting to Stanton Road. That connection is the more difficult portion of the project due to wetlands and culverts.

“I think we can do it without a bridge, but there is a possibility of a bridge so that is much more detailed and a much more expensive piece,” LeJeune said. “Doing this first piece gets people to where they can get off County Road 64 onto Friendship Road. There are a lot of businesses on Friendship and then make it up to State Route 181 without staying on County Road 64. It should alleviate some of the pressure on County Road 64.”

Residents and visitors will soon see construction begin on a road connecting Lavender Land to Target and the elimination of left-hand turns out of Chick-fil-A onto U.S. 98.

The joint project between the city and state involves federal dollars and has been a five-year process to get the project started.

“We are going to take out left-hand turns out of Chick-fil-A to U.S. 98 where there are major accidents,” LeJeune said. “We are putting in a road that will connect Target to the Daphne Police Department (which is on Lavender Lane) and we will be putting a light at the Justice Center. We are making major improvements there to help the safety of our citizens.”

LeJeune said people will begin seeing construction early in 2024. Some inconvenience when traveling in the area will occur but LeJeune said they have asked the contractors to limit road closures to night whenever possible.