Vulcan Materials is low bidder for I-59 project in DeKalb, Etowah counties

FORT PAYNE — Vulcan Materials, Asphalt and Construction is the apparent low bidder for a major highway reconstruction project in northeast Alabama, the Alabama Department of Transportation announced.

Vulcan’s low bid among five bidders was $40,736,789; ALDOT said it anticipated bids in a range of $43.1 million to $52.7 million.

The Alabama Department of Transportation opened the bids last week for a project to reconstruct nearly 11 miles of I-59 southbound between Collinsville and Reece City.

ALDOT projects rebuilt multiple segments of I-59 northbound in DeKalb and Etowah counties in recent years. These include two completed projects and two that remain under construction. The project will be the first to fully reconstruct a segment of the southbound roadway.

The project includes pavement removal, grading, drainage, base, and pavement replacement from south of the Alabama Highway 68 interchange at Exit 205 in Collinsville to south of the Stephens Gap Road overpass north of Reece City.

ALDOT anticipates the winning contractor will divide the project into two phases, each reconstructing a roughly five-mile segment.

Construction is pending bid review and award of the contract, but work will likely begin in Spring 2025. The deadline for completion is March 12, 2027.

In the first half of next year, motorists traveling I-59 through DeKalb and Etowah counties could encounter as many as three several-mile lane shifts within about 40 miles of the state line. A single, two-lane roadway carries two-way traffic, separated by concrete barriers, through areas where the other roadway is being demolished and reconstructed.

Though motorists might experience occasional delays, daily traffic impacts during each of the three projects are expected to be minimal.

Deterioration of the original concrete roadway necessitated total reconstruction of parts of I-59 in northeast Alabama. Here is the history of completed and ongoing projects:

• In 2023, Wiregrass Construction completed work on the corresponding northbound segment at a cost of $44 million.
• In 2022, Wiregrass finished about eight miles of the northbound roadway through Fort Payne at a cost of $25.2 million.
• Contractor A.G. Peltz Group is replacing an eight-mile segment between U.S. 11 in Fort Payne and Alabama 117 in Hammondville, anticipated to be complete in early 2025, at a cost of $40.8 million.
• Wiregrass is working to reconstruct more than eight miles of the northbound roadway of I-59 from Alabama 117 at Hammondville to the Georgia state line at a cost of $40.9 million.

The cost of the improvements so far exceeds $150 million. The project let last week could raise that total to more than $190 million.

Additionally, Wiregrass recently began work on a major I-59 reconstruction project in Birmingham and Trussville in Jefferson County at a cost of $70.4 million.

ALDOT plans to address additional segments of both roadways in future projects, as funding becomes available.

• A consultant is designing the next project for the southbound roadway, which will begin at the state line and stretch about 16 miles to north of the U.S. 11 overpass in Fort Payne.
• ALDOT engaged another consultant to design the next northbound segment, from north of Collinsville to Exit 218 at Alabama 35 in Fort Payne.