It appears like we are seeing some progress on state highways in our county, thanks to the Alabama Department of Transportation. In the past few months, ALDOT has been busy performing maintenance on several roads in Chilton County.

They have recently reopened a bridge on Highway 22 near Isabella after it was replaced. Just down the road, they are replacing another old bridge to make the road safer to travel on. The current bridge over the Mulberry Creek Bridge outside Maplesville is being replaced.

Another significant improvement is a lighting project at the Jemison-Thorsby exit off of 219. This may be one of the biggest things to boost economic development at that exit.

Work on this project should begin around May due to a 180-day procurement for materials. Its price tag is $889,857, but that is a small price tag to help this area’s development.

Jemison officials have been waiting for additional lighting at this exit for a long time. This should help them be able to attract more businesses to the area, and that should help bring more dollars not just to Jemison but also to Chilton County as a whole.

Workers are also clearing trees within the 60-foot right of way along I-65. We’ve already seen some of this. These measures should help improve safety of driving throughout the county.

Also on I-65, the rest area renovations should continue.

There are additional projects that we need help with in the county including safety upgrades at several intersections including the junction of Highways 31, 22 and 145.

And we cannot forget the railroad crossing upgrades from Clanton to Thorsby. We don’t want to see any additional crashes occur here.

We hope the good work continues here in Chilton County.