Outer Loop Project Set To Open Tuesday

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It’s one of the biggest projects in the River Region.

Now after years of construction, the Alabama Department of Transportation is finally finished with phase one of the outer loop.

Drivers coming into Montgomery on I-85 have slowly watched the outer loop project come together.
Now, many are excited to actually use the brand new overpass.

“The outer loop project is pretty good. I like the way it is because it’ll give you a bypass into Montgomery going down to Atmore. save me a little time and traffic too also,” said Timothy Sharpe, who regularly drives the route.

“I’m just glad they finished with the road. Thank God they finished with it,” said Sara Howell.

It’s a sense of relief after almost 5 years of lane closures, delays, and countless hours of traffic jams.

Brantley Kirk with ALDOT says the $150 million project has been a huge undertaking.

“This phase, we actually broke ground on this in September of 2011, as far as planning, a couple years before that,” said Kirk.

This bridge currently connects interstate 85 over to Vaughn Road, but the plan for the project is to take it even farther than that.

“The original plan will eventually have it that we go from all the way from this location all the way to I-65, so kind of loop that way,” said Kirk.

One thing that stands out with this project is the timeline. Unlike so many projects, this one is actually set to open on schedule.

“We’re very close to looking at design work and making sure the right of way is already acquired and utilities are moved. So that kind of helps because once you start the construction you already have that done. So that kind of helps in setting a timeline. But of course you are very dependent on the weather which plays a big part,” said Kirk.

The governor and local leaders will hold a ribbon cutting for the outer loop Tuesday morning and it’s set to open to the public by noon.