DAPHNE — Work to widen Alabama 181 to four lanes between Daphne and Fairhope should be complete within two months, state highway officials said.

Matt Ericksen, division engineer with the Alabama Department of Transportation, said plans are moving forward to open all four lanes of the highway from south of Baldwin County 64 in Daphne to south of Alabama 104 in Fairhope.

The next step will be to temporarily shift traffic back to what will be the southbound lanes, he said.

“The contractor is currently onsite placing the asphalt layer and plans to shift traffic in about three weeks,” Ericksen said. “Once he shifts traffic, he plans to stay onsite and place the final wearing surface layer and hopefully have that project wrapped up here in a couple of months.”

Baldwin County Engineer Joey Nunnally said some work will continue to be done after traffic is on all four lanes.

“Once they split traffic, you're still going to have some more work to do, but your traffic will flow,” Nunnally said. “There's still some more signal work.”

Ericksen said ALDOT is working with the city of Daphne to install a traffic signal at Corte Road. Another signal is planned at St. Michael’s Way. Developers also plan to install signals at The Waters and the new Publix being built at the intersection of Alabama 104.

Fairhope Mayor Sherry Sullivan said traffic flow and signals have been among the concerns that residents have expressed about the expanded highway.

“People are asking about the traffic flow along there, because one of the concerns is just how much traffic is coming through there,” Sullivan said. She added that another signal is planned south of the widened area of the highway.

“There is an additional signal that hopefully will help with the safety through there as well as the traffic,” Sullivan said.

The project is the second of four phases. The next phase will be to widen Alabama 181 from Alabama 104 to Baldwin County 32. Ericksen said the next phase is being planned but no work schedule has been set.

“Based on some comments from the public, we're having to go back and re-evaluate the environmental document,” Ericksen said. “So, we're in the process of putting that plan together. We've got to get the funding to do that re-evaluation. It takes some survey work and some additional public hearings. Once we go through that phase, then we still have to purchase the right of way before we can even go to construction.”

He said state officials have not approved funding for more work and no schedule has been set to start the next phase. The final phase will be to widen the highway south to U.S. 98.

A 2021 estimate of the cost to complete the highway work to U.S. 98, a distance of about 9.7 miles, was $64.5 million, according to ALDOT reports.

The southbound lanes are the original lanes of the highway, which was built as Baldwin County 27 before being transferred to the state highway department.

What will become the northbound lanes were completed and traffic shifted to that part of the highway in July 2021 while work was done to improve the original lanes.