County road maintenance personnel are making quick work of a project to improve safety on Good Hope School Road.

With school out for Christmas vacation, workers started reducing the size of a hill on the road that obstructed visibility for drivers near Good Hope High School Wednesday. Grading was completed by the afternoon.

Associate County Commissioner Stanley Yarbrough, head of road projects for the county’s west side, said the road could be reopened today.

“It was a big issue,” Yarbrough said. “Once you pulled up to the stop sign there coming out of the high school, you couldn’t see either way, left or right.”

The project was funded by a $70,000 grant from the Alabama Department of Transportation. The Cullman County Board of Education provided $14,000 in matching funds to qualify for the grant.

State Rep. Neal Morrison, D-Cullman, was instrumental in obtaining the grant, Yarbrough said, also praising Good Hope Mayor Gordon Dunagan for his role in the project.

Dunagan also thanked Yarbrough and Morrison.

“We’re just real happy that the work’s done,” Dunagan said. “We think it’s going to be safer for people going in and out of the school. It’s been a bad situation for years.”

The work was anticipated to take four to six days. Yarbrough credited the early completion to county engineers Philip Widner and Fred Penn and the Road Department crew supervised by Roy Jackson.

“It goes to show how things work good when everyone works together and communicates together,” Yarbrough said. “I apologize for any inconvenience to the people of the town of Good Hope for the road having been closed. Maybe this will help save someone’s life when they’re coming out of school.”