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South Memorial Parkway Proceeds Ahead of Schedule By Irwin Rapoport
A joint venture between Reed Contracting Services Inc. (road construction) and Miller & Miller Inc. (bridge construction) is taking on the $53.9 million, multi-year Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) South Memorial Parkway (Alabama 53 / U.S. 231) expressway and frontage roads between Golf Road and Whitesburg Drive in Huntsville. This project, which is ahead of schedule, is part of ALDOT and the city of Huntsville’s five-year, $250-million joint-funding agreement for road and bridge infrastructure upgrades in the city. The Memorial Parkway (U.S. 231) runs through the heart of Huntsville in Madison County. “This section from north of Whitesburg Drive to south of Golf Road was a roughly 1.5-mile gap in the eight-lane expressway/service road system where traffic funneled into a divided six-lane with four signalized intersections in less than a mile,” said Seth Burkett, ALDOT’s north region public information officer. “Martin Road, an important access point for Redstone Arsenal, crossed over the parkway via a two-lane bridge constructed in 1961.” The traffic using these roads and bridges is considerable. In 2015, the parkway had an average of 64,020 vehicles daily just north of Lily Flagg Road. The project includes the replacement of the Martin Road Bridge over U.S. 231 and the construction of U.S. 231 mainline, a four-lane highway with overpasses at Byrd Spring Road and Logan Drive/Lily Flagg Road, two-lane
CEG CORRESPONDENT
Logan Drive during early Phase 2.
frontage/service roads on either side and interchanges between the overpasses along this 1.5-mi. stretch. “The project ties in with existing limited-access portions of the parkway to the north and south,” said Burkett, “form-
ing a continuous expressway from south of Mastin Lake Road in north Huntsville to north of Meadowbrook Drive in South Huntsville — a total of about 9.5 miles of expressway see ALDOT page 6
Mercedes-Benz to Invest $1B to Expand Production in Alabama DETROIT (AP) Mercedes-Benz said it will spend $1 billion to expand its Alabama facilities and start production of a new line of fully electric SUVs. The company plans to build a new battery plant near its existing assembly plant in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Construction of the 1 million sq.-ft. battery plant will begin next year. Mercedes said the project will create around 600 new jobs. The company currently employs 3,700 people in Alabama. The Tuscaloosa assembly plant will start produc-
tion of the EQ line of electric SUVs around 2020. Mercedes is aiming at Tesla with the EQ, which will also have advanced semi-autonomous driving features. Mercedes made the announcement as it celebrated the 20th anniversary of its Tuscaloosa plant. The plant currently makes the GLE and GLS SUVs for the U.S. and global markets. (This story also can be found on Construction Equipment Guide’s website at www.constructionequipmentguide.com.)
Motor Trend photo
The Mercedes-Benz Tuscaloosa assembly plant.