The Auburn City Council approved a resolution to conduct a feasibility study to construct a bypass road connecting I-85 to US-280 at their meeting on Tuesday evening.
The resolution allows Mayor Bill Ham and City Manager Jim Buston to make an agreement with the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) to perform the study, which will be the first step needed in order to build the road.
“We have to look at the route and what would be the optimum route that we would want to alleviate the most traffic congestion that we can,” Buston said. “We have to look at environmental issues, if the road is going to go through wetlands, we have to look at any historical structures. ... As ALDOT does its study, they're going to look at all that and come up with the best route for the road.”
The study alone could last anywhere from six months to a year depending on the number of complications found.
Assuming there are no complications found in the study, the City would need confirmation from the Metropolitan Planning Organization that the promised federal funding will be available for construction of the road.
The total cost of the feasibility study is estimated at $276,451.29. If federal funding is available, 80 percent of the total cost ($221,161.03) would be covered by the federal government while the City of Auburn would pay for 20 percent ($55,290.26).
“If we are fortunate enough to get some funding, it’d be a mighty good thing,” Ham said.
If the study goes well and federal funding is available, construction of the outer-loop road would begin from I-85 at Beehive Road.
“We know this won’t be completed all at one time,” Buston said. “This will take a series of years to get completed, but if we can complete it in sections and use federal funding for that, that’s our best scenario.”
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