Crews with the utility contractor Rain For Rent kept up their overnight push this week to finish assembling a temporary bypass pipe through downtown Mobile, and drivers were being asked to watch closely for workers and equipment along the route. Traffic was not being stopped outright, but the work zone stretched along Conception Street from Conti Street north to St. Francis Street, with roadway ramps also going in where Conception meets Conti and where Dauphin meets St. Francis.
An open area next to Bienville Square was being used as a staging and assembly yard for sections of pipe before they were moved into place. Central Parking hooded meters along the entire bypass route to keep the work area clear, meaning downtown visitors and employees needed to look elsewhere for street parking through the week.
The bypass installation is one stage of a larger downtown Mobile pipe replacement project that has been underway for weeks, with crews gradually extending the temporary line block by block through the historic core of the city.
Beyond downtown, several other Mobile County projects remained active. The intersection of Three Notch Road at Dawes Lane and the Dawes Lane extension stayed closed, with completion now expected around the third week of November. Satchel Paige Drive between Government Street and Bolling Brothers Boulevard remained fully closed while it was widened to a four-lane divided road as part of the McGowin Park shopping center development, a job expected to take about three months total. Near the airport, inside lanes of Airport Boulevard at Alverson Road continued closing on weekdays between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. for drainage and roadway improvements, with that phase nearing its finish.
State highway crews had their own list of ongoing work. On I-10, resurfacing and bridge work between Halls Mill Creek and the west end of the George C. Wallace Tunnel continued to bring nighttime lane closures Sunday through Thursday, a project expected to wrap up by the following summer. On U.S. 90 between Halls Mill and Pine Hill Drive, night lane closures were expected to continue through December. The Alabama welcome center at the Mississippi state line remained closed for rebuilding, with reopening not expected before spring 2016.
In Baldwin County, the connector linking County Road 68 to the Baldwin Beach Express had climbed to about 95 percent complete, with only occasional lane closures expected on County Road 83 as finishing work wrapped up. At the Little Lagoon Pass bridge, reconstruction remained roughly halfway finished, with a temporary detour bridge alongside the site keeping traffic moving with only minor delays.
Drivers in both counties were encouraged to build in extra travel time and stay alert for changing signage as multiple projects continued moving toward completion before the end of the year.