Officials gave an update on the Highway 157 widening project Friday. From left, Jamie Troutman with Cullman Economic Development, Rep. Randall Shedd, North Alabama ALDOT Engineer Curtis Vincent, Cullman Economic Development Director Dale Greer, Sen. Garlan Gudger, Mayor Woody Jacobs.

Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) officials said the widening of Highway 157 is going as planned, and could possibly be completed shortly ahead of schedule.

At a progress briefing Friday at Cullman City Hall, Curtis Vincent, North Region Engineer for ALDOT, said Chilton Contractors are “doing extremely well.”

“They’re about 56 days into the contract. The project is still on track. It’s scheduled to be completed around the end of 2022, and we hope things continue to progress as they have. If so, we may actually finish a little early,” he said. “You just never know on a project of this size and magnitude what you’re going to run into next, but so far everything is going very smoothly.”

So far, he said, the company has made a lot of progress from Highway 69 up to Lake Catoma and could begin paving in a few weeks. They have also begun blasting rock north of Lake Catoma.

Construction began on Oct. 8 last year and is expected to take 330 working days to complete. Along with widening the state highway, the project includes a multi-use path from Eva Road to Childhaven Road on the northbound side and a multi-use path from from Eva Road to Forrest Avenue on the southbound side.

Mayor Woody Jacobs said the city hasn’t received any complaints about the contractors. “It’s been a good project,” he said. He expressed his appreciation to ALDOT, the state legislative delegation and Senator Richard Shelby for helping provide the funding for the $19.4 million project.

“There’s always a lot of projects that need to be done and it all comes back to funding,” said Rep. Randall Shedd. He commended ALDOT Director John Cooper for the work on Hwy. 157 and also the quick completion of the Hwy. 231 project last year.

The Hwy. 157 project is being funded in large part from a BUILD grant in the amount of $14 million. Senator Garland Gudger said Shelby’s assistance was a driving factor in Cullman receiving the grant. Gudger said only two BUILD grants were awarded to Alabama.

Other sources of funding are $2.5 million from the state, $1 million from the city, $1.5 million form the national highway fund and $392,864 from a state match.

Gudger said it was the team work of city, state and federal leaders who have made the project possible. “Without everybody in this room, and others not in the room, it wouldn’t have happened,” he said. “We made this happen as a team and that’s why we continue to be successful.”

Jacobs noted that the change to the state gas tax also helped make the project possible. “Nobody likes to hear the word ‘tax’ but everyone wants their road paved,” he said.