Thousands of Limestone County drivers are benefiting from the road projects completed this paving season, and several more projects are set to soon be underway on the western side of the county.

Limestone County Engineer Marc Massey, who presented each district commissioner with a paving schedule in February, said most projects have followed the schedule and anticipated timelines. He added being more organized this year made a big difference in how many projects got tackled.

“I’ve been here for four years, and we’ve accomplished more this year than any other year before,” Massey said. “We’ve put down 180,000 gallons of liquid asphalt. Looking back at other years, we were at 85,000 to 90,000 gallons. That’s the benefit of organization.”

Work is wrapping up in District 1, which includes northern and northeastern portions of Limestone County. Massey said the last project in the district would be to spot reclaim and chip-seal Carey Road from Elkton Road to Hays Mill Road. Chip-sealing Cagle, Huber and Roberts roads will not be completed this year because there is no money left in the budget.

Other completed work includes resurfacing Wales, Hatchett Ridge and Big Spring roads and Vanzille Lane in District 3, which includes southern and southwestern Limestone.

Once the road crew finishes up in District 1, work will move to District 4, which includes western and northwestern parts of the county. Massey estimated the paving crew would remain in that district until Oct. 1, which is the end of the paving season.

The first project on the list in the district is the leveling and scrub-sealing of Lydia Corey Road from New Cut Road to Alabama 99. Other upcoming projects include chip-sealing Shelton, Sugar Creek and Belle Hill roads.

Road crews will also be implementing a fog-seal method on Lester, Flanagan, Cairo Hollow, Cox and Oneal roads.

Because the county paving crew will spend two months in District 4, Massey said they will be able to use the county new milling machine. Commissioners approved spending up to $400,000 on the new Caterpillar PM312 at their July 15 meeting. Massey estimated the new machine would be delivered by mid-August.

When asked about scheduling road projects so far in advance, Massey said everything stayed on track, for the most part, despite an unusually wet summer. He added he would probably make several changes when working on next year’s paving schedule, including no planned work the week of the Fourth of July holiday.

Old Highway 20 bridge project

Though technically not a Limestone County project, Massey said work to replace the Old Highway 20 bridge had fallen behind schedule because of the weather. The bridge, which has been out since the Christmas 2015 flood event, was set to be completed by the end of October.

Massey said hitting that date is unlikely, but he was optimistic the bridge would be completed by the end of the year.

The estimated $3.2-million replacement project represents a joint partnership between the county, city of Huntsville, federal emergency relief funds and Alabama Department of Transportation. Eutaw Construction Co. of Madison, Mississippi, was awarded the low bid on the project.