DALEVILLE — Developments like Country Crossing might be crucial to securing more private funding for road projects like the Interstate 10 connector, city and county officials said on Wednesday.

The policy committee of the Southeast Alabama Rural Planning Organization met at Daleville City Hall to review road improvement recommendations submitted by at least seven city and county engineering staffs in Southeast Alabama. Regional planner David Lebert said many rural road projects on the lists could lose priority as state and federal funds deteriorated.

But developments like Country Crossing could draw more inspiration to funding the I-10 connector at least, Houston County Commissioner Bobby Snellgrove said.

The I-10 connector is projected to cost more than $200 million, he said.
“We should know within a year if the (private) money’s gonna be available. (Country Crossing is) gonna be some encouragement to the investors — if there’s more traffic, they’ll pay for it,” Snellgrove told officials at the meeting.

“And if it’s a toll road, that might expedite it four or five years and save folks some money in tires, oil and brakes from having to stop and start their vehicles in (congested) traffic.”
Snellgrove said some examples of how state and federal funding was not available for some Wiregrass projects were the nearly decade-old promised expansion on Ross Clark Circle and U.S. 431 in Eufaula.

Ozark Mayor Bob Bunting said smaller projects like adding signage at high traffic intersections in Ozark have also been bumped back for several years.
“I see it’s listed as a priority here on the Ozark list, but without those funds there’s no telling how much longer we’ll have to wait, and you know how dangerous that is at that intersection near Gilland (on U.S. 231),” he said.

Lebert said the organization’s policy and technical committees are made up of city and county officials who have met for about two years to address transportation needs in rural communities. The recommendations will now go before the technical committee to be consolidated before going back to the policy committee, which will then present the recommendations to the state Department of Transportation.

The committees hope to get more public input in the future by holding semi-annual public hearings, Lebert said. The policy committee meets quarterly, so Lebert said the dates and times for the meetings are announced about 30 days in advance.
The technical committee is expected to meet in May. The policy committee is expected to meet again in June.