Drivers who rely on U.S. 31 through Spanish Fort should plan for a weekend detour beginning Friday, March 8, as road crews shut down both directions of the highway to install a new drainage pipe beneath the roadway near Ember Lane.
The closure is tied to the ongoing widening of U.S. 31, a project designed to add capacity to one of Baldwin County’s busiest north-south corridors as growth continues to bring more traffic to the Eastern Shore. Before crews can widen the highway, they must first relocate and upgrade the drainage infrastructure that runs underneath it, which requires temporarily cutting into both the northbound and southbound lanes.
The Alabama Department of Transportation says the work crew will open-cut the roadway to lay the new drainage crossing, a process that cannot safely be done while traffic continues to flow through the work zone. As a result, U.S. 31 will be closed to through traffic at the project site starting at 9 p.m. on Friday, March 8.
Local residents who live along the affected stretch will still be able to reach their homes, but all other through traffic will be routed around the closure. ALDOT is directing motorists heading through the area to detour via U.S. 90 south or Alabama 181 south. From either route, drivers can reconnect with Interstate 10 at Exits 35 or 38 to continue their trip on U.S. 31 beyond the work zone.
Crews expect the detour to remain in place through the weekend, with U.S. 31 scheduled to reopen to normal traffic by 5 a.m. Monday, March 11, assuming favorable weather. ALDOT frequently schedules this kind of underground utility and drainage work overnight and over weekends specifically to reduce the impact on the daily commute, though drivers passing through Spanish Fort late Friday and over the weekend should still budget extra travel time or consider the alternate routes in advance.
The drainage work is one piece of a larger, multi-million-dollar effort to widen U.S. 31 through the Spanish Fort area. The overall widening contract was awarded to Hosea O. Weaver & Sons Inc. at a cost of about $19 million, and it is expected to bring additional lanes and improved drainage capacity to a corridor that has seen steadily increasing traffic volumes as Spanish Fort and the surrounding Eastern Shore communities continue to grow.
Motorists are encouraged to watch for updated signage in the area and to follow posted detour routes closely, since the closure will affect both directions of travel at the work site. Additional lane closures and detours are possible as the broader widening project continues in the months ahead.