Jan. 27—The $23.7 million rehabilitation of the Interstate 65 Tennessee River bridges starts Sunday, but Decatur city officials said that won’t stop the Sixth Avenue streetscape project — at the south end of the U.S. 31 bridges — from moving forward.

Weather permitting, nighttime single-lane closures on the I-65 bridges will begin Sunday, the Alabama Department of Transportation announced Friday.

ALDOT says it anticipates the I-65 project will take about 2 1/2 years. It includes cleaning, painting and repairing concrete and structural steel on the 50-year-old bridges.

The announcement comes as Decatur does a $10 million beautification, safety and traffic flow project to Sixth Avenue, from Hudson Memorial bridges to Prospect Drive Southeast.

“They (ALDOT) told us not to slow down (with the Sixth Avenue project),” Mayor Tab Bowling said.

Bowling said Decatur Utilities is already moving some utilities underground.

“We expect to get the go-ahead to start the bid process (for the rest of the project) just any day now,” he said.

He said the first part will be sidewalk improvements to meet the requirements of a state grant funding this part of the project.

ALDOT spokesman Seth Burkett said they want to “coordinate and streamline the two projects as much as possible.”

Council President Jacob Ladner pointed out that part of the Sixth Avenue project is designed to improve traffic flow. It aims to do this by reducing the number of left-turn spots with a cement median in what is now a center left-turn lane, removing traffic lights and eliminating left turns for four city streets that intersect with Sixth Avenue.

Recent closures of the I-65 bridges and detouring traffic to U.S. 31/Sixth Avenue created major traffic issues for the city.

Local officials, including state Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, and state Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, expressed concern to ALDOT officials at a recent Decatur-area Metropolitan Planning Organization meeting about a possible repeat of backed-up traffic during the I-65 bridge-repair project.

“We told them this could potentially have a negative impact if they don’t mitigate the problems as much as possible,” Ladner said. “But I give ALDOT credit, they came back with a plan that includes very minimal closures.

“Things like this are painful but, as long as we can limit the traffic issues, we need to make sure Decatur is protected. It also, of course, affects Priceville and Hartselle,” Ladner said.

With exceptions for certain work items, the ALDOT release says it will be restricting lane closures to nights to minimize impacts to traffic during the project. A majority of the project will not involve travel lane closures, though lane closures will be necessary for initial work items.

Bowling said most of the work will be underneath the bridges, and this will minimize the project’s traffic impact.

The release says ALDOT contractor Cekra anticipates closing a single lane between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. each night, Sunday evenings through Thursday evenings/Friday mornings, during the final week of January and each week of February to install rigging.

“Doing a lot of the work at night, if they can, is a real blessing,” Bowling said. “And, if they’re doing the I-65 work at night, (Sixth Avenue) streetscape will be done during the day.”

Currently, the contractor plans to alternate lane closures between the southbound and northbound bridges from week to week. A southbound lane closure is planned for next week.

Burkett said the state plans to initially urge travelers to use alternate exits to the north and south of Decatur.

“We’re still working out a plan for whether we will need to require any alternate routes,” Burkett said.

Work requiring daytime lane closures may begin in March. Daytime lane closures will be limited to certain work items, including concrete deck repairs and asphalt widening on the approaches to the bridges. Message boards will advise motorists in advance of lane closures and possible detours.

In addition to the nighttime work on the I-65 bridges, ALDOT will have daytime lane closures while paving I-65 northbound in the Hartselle and Priceville areas next week. ALDOT warned of traffic delays due to single-lane closures between Exit 325 at Thompson Road in Hartselle and Exit 334 at Alabama 67 in Priceville. Work will take place from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, Monday through Thursday, weather permitting.

Motorists can check traffic conditions via algotraffic.com or the ALGO Traffic App before traveling. Follow ALDOT North Region on X @ALDOT_NRegion for project updates.

— bayne.hughes@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2432. Twitter @DD_BayneHughes.