Canal Rd. project will require lane closure beginning June 22

Canal Rd. project will require lane closure beginning June 22

Well, it was fun while it lasted and it provided a great preview as to what is to come, but beginning on Monday, June 22, ALDOT’s Canal Road widening contractor is scheduled to start widening operations on the south side of the roadway. A lane closure will be required between Gulf Bay Road and Hwy. 161/Orange Beach Blvd. in the eastbound outside lane.
The contractor will attempt to work in 1000-foot lane closure segments. It is anticipated that this phase of the project will take several weeks. The speed limit through the construction zone is 40 mph.
City officials asked the state to reconfigure the existing roadway to get an extra eastbound lane on the road even as work continued over Memorial Day Weekend and early June, even though the entire five lane project won’t be completed until later this fall.
“We were only going to have the one lane,” Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon said of the eastbound traffic flow at the time. “We measured the width. We said if we reduced the lane width, we could get five. We took a shot and ALDOT jumped right on board with the contractor and helped us. We did not expect five lanes this summer.”
Traffic flowed freely on Canal Rd. while two lanes were open in both directions. “It’s been a Godsend,’’ Mayor Kennon said after Memorial weekend. “We had no real backups at all. We had one fender bender right down by the Tom Thumb that backed it up briefly but other than that it moved real well.”