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‘Skepticism’ Turns Into ‘Optimism’ in West Ala. for U.S. Highway 43 Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey’s announcement in February that U.S. Highway 43 would be widened from Thomasville to Tuscaloosa brought back long-ago memories for Cindy Neilson. Neilson was a Marengo County probate judge when she, along with former Linden Mayor Roy “Pat” Vice, often visited with former Alabama Gov. Fob James to discuss the importance of a U.S. 43 corridor through west Alabama. Indeed, a project that has been discussed and planned since at least the early 1990s — if not longer — was prioritized in Ivey’s State of the State address earlier this year. The project is “absolutely happening,” according to an Ivey spokesperson, and is part of the governor’s goal in reducing the number of counties in Alabama, now at 17, that have no four-lane connectivity to an interstate. With it, towns along the way hope the new road ushers in economic growth to an area that hasn’t had prosperity visit in some time. The project will be financed through Rebuild Alabama, a program adopted by the Legislature in 2019 and financed by the first increase to the state’s gas tax since 1992. The final two cents to an overall 10-cent tax increase will be added this fall. “As [Ivey] said in her State of the State address this year, our state’s roadways are the arteries of commerce, and she remains totally committed to making this long-await project a reality,” said Gina Maiola, the governor’s spokesperson. The U.S. 43 project also will be under construction before the end of 2021, even though no corridors or bypasses around cities have been identified. The project’s estimated overall costs also have not been disclosed by state officials. But the mechanism the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) is looking at in building the road is geared toward fasttracking its construction. The U.S. 43 project will be Alabama’s first “design-build” project, a method in which the design and construction contracts are combined into one bid. Officials say the method can speed up construction, as opposed to traditional designbid-build contracts in which multiple contractors are part of one project. The method has been growing in popularity throughout the United States since it first became an experimental concept for transportation departments in 1988. Alabama lawmakers, however, only gave ALDOT permission to pursue the method in 2017. Tony Harris, a spokesperson of ALDOT, said the design-build concept will give state officials latitude to work with a team of designers and contractors to speed the project along. “If they design the first four miles, they can then get started with see OPTIMISM page 6
C&W Drilling is one of the largest drilling contractors in the state of Alabama. Now operating a dozen drills with approximately 20 staff in the Columbiana area, the company’s chief efforts remain on rock quarry, water well, geothermal and construction drilling. From the Alabama company’s start in 1990, Woody Quinn, owner and CEO, has prided himself on hard work and has never forgotten where he came from. Though Quinn’s booming drilling empire is in Alabama, his first home was in South Carolina, where he grew up and his passion for Clemson sports grew deeper. Beyond simple admiration of the football team, Quinn’s uncle was a great Clemson baseball player who see DRILLING page 6
Woody Quinn, owner and CEO of C&W Drilling, found a unique way of combining his current drilling needs with his Clemson Pride — he painted his new Reichdrill RTD 45 orange and purple with Tiger Paws.