A portion of Alabama’s Highway 119 that runs through the City of Alabaster will soon receive new upgrades including additional traffic signals and turning lanes thanks to $2 million in state grant funding provided by the latest round of Rebuild Alabama.

The improvements are intended to ease traffic congestion on what is one of the most heavily trafficked roadways in the entire state.

The city offered its thanks for the funding and specified what it will be allocated towards.

• Upgrade the traffic signals at every intersection along 119 between Fulton Springs Road and U.S. 31 to coordinate traffic flow along this stretch of 119.
• Modify the intersection of 119 and Kent Dairy Road to add a dedicated left turn lane when exiting next to Starbucks/Wendy’s. The entrance into the Central State Bank parking lot on Kent Dairy Road will be turned into a right-in-right-out only. The traffic signal at this intersection will be upgraded to account for the new traffic pattern.
• Install new mast arm traffic signal poles at the 119-First Street Southwest and 119-Plaza Circle/Kent Stone Boulevard intersections to match the new mast arms already installed at Fulton Springs Road and 11th Avenue Southwest.

The funding is made available through the Alabama Transportation Rehabilitation and Improvement Program-II (ATRIP-II), a program created in 2019 by the Rebuild Alabama Act. The Rebuild Alabama Act requires ATRIP-II to be an annual program setting aside a minimum of $30 million off the top of ALDOT’s share of new gas tax revenue for projects of local interest on the state highway system.

The project will be paid for through state funding, the city of Alabaster, and Shelby County.

Austen Shipley is the News Director for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on X @ShipleyAusten