HUNTSVILLE — The Alabama Department of Transportation advises motorists that all traffic on several miles of Interstate 59 between Reece City and Collinsville will be shifted to the southbound roadway for about a year beginning this week. 

Transitions have been constructed and barriers are in place on Interstate 59 southbound from near milepost 194, south of Stephens Gap Road in northern Etowah County, to about a mile north of the  DeKalb County line, about 5½ miles. Preparations are still underway, but on Thursday, July 7, or  Friday, July 8, contractor Wiregrass Construction anticipates moving northbound traffic to the inside southbound lane so that removal and reconstruction of the northbound roadway can begin. 

The $44 million project will reconstruct a total of about 11 miles from south of Stephens Gap Road to south of Exit 205 (Alabama 68). The remaining 5½ miles to the south of Exit 205 will be reconstructed after the southern segment from Stephens Gap Road is complete. The project is anticipated to be completed in the summer of 2024. 

Please expect delays and plan additional travel time. 

Combined with the recent $25 million project on about eight miles of I-59 northbound in Fort  Payne, these projects represent an investment of about $70 million in reconstructing the I-59  corridor in northeast Alabama.