When the discussion turns to development in Calhoun County and particularly at McClellan, two words you often hear are Eastern Parkway. Yet without a way to get above it and see what is going on, it is hard to get a handle on such a big project.

To begin to get a clearer picture of the Eastern Parkway, you need a map. It won’t tell the whole story, but it is good place to start.

From I-20 on the south end, the first couple steps are easy to find. Take Exit 188 off the interstate and head north on the Leon Smith Parkway to the intersection of Greenbrier-Dear Road. You have just completed one phase of this large project ( the blue line ).

Continue north, now on Golden Springs Road from Greenbrier-Dear Road to just north of Choccolocco Road and you have completed another phase ( the pink line ).

Now the project gets more difficult to follow. Pull up a Google Earth satellite image and you’ll see a brown swath through the trees heading mostly north and somewhat west toward McClellan. A few maps incorrectly show Thomas Avenue crossing what may be labeled as Iron Mountain Road or Campingtons Ridge Road. The current construction phase goes from 10th Street almost to Lake Yahou ( the green line ). This section of road will probably be one of the most scenic, but it has not been an easy, or inexpensive section to build.

“If people knew how much earth has been moved to put that road through,” Scott Bradshaw of the JPA said recently, “they wouldn’t ask what has taken so long.”

This portion of the road is a series of deep cuts through the ridges, massive drainage structures and areas of fill to create a road without hairpin turns or steep inclines through a terrain that is anything but level and straight. This by far has been the most expensive phase of the project, but the grading and drainage work is nearly complete. ALDOT should be letting the contract for paving this section within the next few months, with a completion date 18 months afterward.

And where does that leave us? Just short of Lake Yahou with the end in sight, but currently no way to get there. Eighty percent of the $86 million Al DOT has spent on the parkway has come from the federal government. Congressman Mike Rogers said in 2006 there would be no more federal funding. State and local officials are weighing a number of options including a toll road and temporary increases in gas taxes or sales taxes. According to Mayor Howell of Anniston, it is not a matter of if the road will be completed, but how it will be paid for.

The final phase of construction of the Eastern Parkway will drop down behind the Anniston Museum and Anniston Star building to cross Alabama Highway 21 and join up with US 431; near the old Summerall Gate ( the black lines ). There will also be a spur that will connect with the new Summerall Gate Road on what is currently called Iron Mountain Road (south of the new soccer fields).

But this is not even close to the entire transportation story for McClellan. Last year the JPA secured an additional $181 million for completion of environmental cleanup left over from McClellan’s days as an army training facility. This funding has allowed the JPA to keep a number of crews busy behind those “road closed” barricades, out of sight and out of mind to most McClellan and Anniston residents, making certain that the roads can be reopened and will be as safe as possible by removing unexploded ordinance from 80 years of military service. Their primary work since last December has been working south from the bottom of Bains Gap Road toward that third section of the Eastern Parkway ( the purple line ).

Just to make things more interesting, this road seems to have had more than one name. When talking about connecting with the Eastern Parkway, most people refer to this road as Iron Mountain Road, but many of the internet map programs call it Rocky Hollow Road, or Thomas Avenue as it nears the new Parkway. Regardless of what you call it, this road should be cleaned and resurfaced by the time the paving is completed on the Parkway. This connection will provide a way for McClellan’s residents, both private and industrial, to access Interstate 20. Eventually Iron Mountain Road will be extended around the back of McClellan’s developed area before turning west near Riley Lake and joining up with Alabama 21 ( the red line ).

As for those headlines you may have seen, yes, the Eastern Parkway has taken a long time. From a distance it may appear that it is a stalled project, but every day more earth is moved, more land cleared of possible dangers, and we move a bit closer to connecting all the pieces. And yes, the project has cost more than expected. When construction began in April 2001, it would have been difficult to find anyone that would have predicted oil prices would be topping $100/barrel today. Because asphalt is a petroleum-based product, its cost has also risen dramatically. According to DeJarvis Leonard, fourth division engineer for the Alabama Department of Transportation, road construction costs have gone up at least 30 percent in the last four years. Some may not see the value of a project that is not easily visible today, but those that can see the big picture or the whole map call it essential to the growth and development of Anniston, McClellan and even Jacksonville.

So get past the headlines, get out the map, and remember the next time you are stuck in traffic on Quintard, soon there may be an easier way.

lb 2/22/2008