CLARIFICATION: The ADECA block grant awarded to Limestone County was submitted earlier this year by the Limestone County Commission, including the engineering department, former District 4 Commissioner Ben Harrison and others. Gov. Kay Ivey awarded the block grants to more than 60 counties and communities with flooding issues. District 4 Commissioner LaDon Townsend will head the road crew performing a portion of the work as stated in the article below. The engineering department will handle the paving portion of the project.

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Limestone County residents in District 4 will soon be able to drive down Chapman Hollow Road south of Lester at all times of the year, not just when it is dry.

Thanks to an Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA) Community Development Block Grant, work will soon begin on the road to alleviate massive flooding problems.

The county was recently awarded a $301,000 grant to provide pavement and drainage improvements on the road, stretching from Alabama 99 to Easter Ferry Road.

“We are grateful for the investment that ADECA is making in our county,” Limestone County Commission Chairman Collin Daly said. “This project will improve flooding that has occurred in this area for years.

District 4 Commissioner LaDon Townsend said the road repairs have been needed for a long time.

“Chapman Hollow Road, close to (Alabama) 99, floods every time it rains,” Townsend said. “Everything is low on that road. Water always goes over the road because it is so low, so we’re going to lift it and put in new drainage up and down the road.”

Townsend said the project will consist of raising the elevation of the road, putting in a box culvert and bridge and new drainage pipes on the sides of the road that will keep the water off the road.

“All the pipes there now are undersized, so we’re putting in new pipes and new cross drains,” Townsend said. “The cross drains we’re adding are currently not there. It’s a pretty big project.”

Townsend said he expects the cross drains and driveway pipes to start being installed in the next month or so.

“They’re supposed to be out there sizing them for us now,” he said. “We’re getting a plan together to start to get some of them in.”

Townsend said most of the work will be done by the District 4 road crew.

“We’re going to do all the drainage and then actually do the dirt part and the bridge,” he said. “We’re going to do most of the work ourselves, and the engineering department will come in and do the paving. It’s going to be a new road start to finish.”