Foley applies for grant for intersection improvement project

By Jessica Vaughn
Posted 5/12/21

FOLEY - The City of Foley has applied for a grant through the House Committee on Appropriations. The committee recently was accepting community funding project requests. Foley’s request is for …

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Foley applies for grant for intersection improvement project

Posted

FOLEY - The City of Foley has applied for a grant through the House Committee on Appropriations. The committee recently was accepting community funding project requests. Foley’s request is for intersection improvements at Foley Beach Express and Miflin. The city has asked for one million dollars to go towards the project.

“We looked at a lot of different projects and a lot of thought went into this,” said Foley Mayor Ralph Hellmich. “We’re competing with all the other cities in Baldwin and Mobile Counties.”

The grant was required to be between half a million and a million dollars. Ten projects are expected to be funded by the grant.

“We tried to come up with a project that was on our road plan that would be kind of regional in nature and would possibly give us the best possibility to be funded,” Hellmich said. “We felt that this matched being on the Beach Express, and it’s a major intersection improvement with accel/decel lanes and things that need to be done from a safety perspective.”

If awarded the grant, Hellmich says the money saved on the intersection improvements would be spent on other infrastructure needs in Foley. He also said with the announcement of the Intercoastal Waterway Bridge project receiving the Corps of Engineer permit, Foley has received information stating once the project is under construction an additional 15,000 cars a day are anticipated to travel on Foley roads. The bridge project is expected to go to bid this summer, and to be a one to two-year project once construction begins. Foley has built a repaving plan into the budget over the coming years in preparation for the increased traffic flow in the city. Hellmich is optimistic about the Community Funding grant for Foley Beach Express/Miflin intersection improvements.

“This particular project I think is broader than Foley, which should help,” said City Administrator Mike Thompson. “Highway 59 and the Beach Express are two routes that are sending tourists down to the beach and back home, so this will help everybody in Baldwin County, and we hope that’s going to be helpful to our submission. From a hurricane perspective, it’s also a hurricane evacuation route … I think the combination of this being a broader benefit than just Foley and then also it being part of a hurricane response effort should help us.”