GOOD HOPE — After more than four months of taking the “long way” around the Bavar Creek bridge on Beech Grove Road, local residents can now drive over a new, safer bridge.

The city reopened the road around 5 p.m., Thursday, and at 9 a.m., Monday, officials plan to hold a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the project’s completion.

“We opened the road as soon as we could,” said Mayor Jerry Bartlett said. “As soon as they finished putting up the guardrail, we opened it to traffic.”

Since Oct. 20, a quarter-mile stretch of Beech Grove Road has been closed to allow crews to replace the century-old bridge. Despite being plagued with rainy weather, Carcel & G Construction managed to finish the work ahead of schedule.

“We’ve still got a little grass and sod the city is going to do ourselves, but we plan to finish that up after school traffic,” Bartlett said.

The road closure has been a headache for those who travel the main route between Good Hope and Dodge City. And for the unlucky Good Hope students who live along Beech Grove, the closure has been particularly irritating.

A Cullman County school bus has had to alter its route to pick up kids on one side of the road, then turning around and driving up the other side to pick up the rest. It’s added time to the trip, meaning parents have to get kids ready earlier to get them to school on time.

But now that the bridge is complete, everyone can return to their normal schedule. The project has been in the works since Good Hope was awarded a $1,137,000 grant for the work through the Alabama Transportation Rehabilitation and Improvement Program (ATRIP) in 2013 which requires a 20 percent match.

 

Tiffeny Owens can be reached at 256-734-2131, ext. 135.