Rapid growth along the Eastern Shore has pushed Daphne’s stretch of Alabama 181 to a breaking point during peak commuting hours, prompting the city council to back a study on whether a new traffic signal is warranted near the Bellaton subdivision.
The Daphne-Fairhope-Foley area has been one of the fastest-growing metro regions in the country in recent years, with the broader area’s population climbing from roughly 183,000 in 2010 to nearly 200,000 by 2013. Much of that growth has landed directly along Ala. 181, where the Bellaton, Old Field and Dunmore subdivisions sit between Ala. 104 and Baldwin County 64.
Residents of Bellaton say the problem is a bottleneck just north of their neighborhood, where southbound Ala. 181 narrows from four lanes to two. Drivers exiting Dunmore and Old Field often reach highway speed right around the point where they merge with Bellaton traffic at the Austin Road intersection. Daphne’s public works director described the scene bluntly, saying commuters routinely hit around 55 mph as they approach the intersection during the morning rush, making it difficult and at times dangerous for Bellaton residents to pull out onto the highway.
The Alabama Department of Transportation has long-term plans to widen Ala. 181 farther south toward Baldwin County 48 in Fairhope, but city officials say that phase of construction remains at least five years away. An earlier widening phase between U.S. 90 and Baldwin County 64 wrapped up in 2011, but funding gaps have since slowed additional work on the corridor.
In November, a group of Bellaton residents raised the traffic concerns directly with Daphne’s Public Safety Committee, asking the city to consider a signal at Bellaton Avenue and Austin Road. City officials say the request lines up with signalization improvements already under discussion through the Eastern Shore Metropolitan Planning Organization. On Dec. 1, the Daphne City Council voted unanimously to support moving forward with a formal warrant study to determine whether a signal is justified at the intersection.
Because Bellaton Avenue falls under city maintenance and Austin Road is a county road, any eventual signal project would be a three-way split: the state covering half the cost, with the city and Baldwin County each responsible for a quarter. Council members said they want any new signal built with mast poles rather than wire supports so the equipment can remain in place once the road is eventually widened, and stressed that any changes should avoid repeating past mistakes on U.S. 98, where too many crossovers and driveway cuts created their own congestion problems.
The council also approved its contribution toward a broader Traffic Signal System Technology Enhancements Study aimed at better synchronizing signals across several major Eastern Shore corridors, including Ala. 181, U.S. 90 and Baldwin County 64 in Daphne, U.S. 98 in Daphne and Fairhope, U.S. 31 in Spanish Fort, and Ala. 59 in Loxley. Daphne, Fairhope, Spanish Fort and the Baldwin County Commission are all chipping in toward the roughly $35,800 study, which the Eastern Shore MPO is coordinating.