ELBERTA - The Town of Elberta voted to submit a grant application for a project that would add a right turn lane off Highway 98 onto Highway 87 for the Elberta Elementary School. The application will ask for approximately $600,000 in order to widen the road, upgrade the signal, and construct the turn lane. There is no match involved and would be of no cost to the town.

“As part of the gas tax that came out last year, there was two pots of money,” said Alan Killen, civil engineer with Civil Southeast. “One was the $10 million pot of money, and the second was a larger pot of money that has to be spent on state routes. It’s with that pot of money that we’re going to do the application for the town, and if Elberta is selected then Civil Southeast will not be part of the actual project, ALDOT will handle this solely.”

Mayor Jim Hamby said that the elementary school administration, principal, and teachers are all in favor of the turning lane. He said parents with students in the school have also shown favor for the project. According to Hamby, Town Hall received multiple letters of support from community members to be submitted with the application.

“This is really out of our jurisdiction, but it’s in the law that you can apply for something, even if it’s out of your jurisdiction in the State of Alabama, as long as it would benefit your community,” Hamby said. “This is the perfect example of that.”

If the grant is awarded, the town will work with ALDOT on the construction timeline.