ALDOT’s $130 Million Eight-Lane Upgrade for Tuscaloosa Bridge to Begin Next Year
The state of Alabama's ambitious, $132 million project to replace the Woolsey Finnell Bridge with an eight-lane upgrade is expected to begin next year and wrap up years later.
In the Tuesday Transportation Summit presented by the Chamber of Commerce of West Alabama, a spokesperson for the Alabama Department of Transportation gave an update on the project.
Wallace McAdory, a Region Engineer for ALDOT in West Alabama, said the plan was initially to add just one lane of traffic in both directions on the bridge, but now the state will double the current capacity and make the bridge eight lanes.
"The Woolsey Finnell Bridge was built in the 1960s. It's considered functionally obsolete," he said. "It's not designed for barge impact loads. It has no shoulders. And with a federal earmark from Senator Richard Shelby, we were able to progress this project from what began as a widening project to a full bridge replacement."
McAdory said the work required relocating about 80 graves from Bryce Cemetery on Jack Warner Parkway, past Manderson Landing, but that work is now finished.
The plans also call for a shared-use path along the bridge that will eventually link Tuscaloosa's Riverwalks on the north and south banks of the Black Warrior.
McAdory said most of the bridge replacement's $132 million price tag is covered by earmarks secured by former US Senator Richard Shelby before he retired and was replaced by Katie Britt.
"We're estimating to let that project in spring or summer [2026]," McAdory said. "Estimated construction time is three or four years."
We'll have more on how the city plans to respond to ALDOT's plans to close an off-ramp on McFarland Boulevard leading to the Magnet Schools, Baumhowers, and more in a separate story from the Tuesday Summit.
Keep up with the ALDOT project to replace the bridge at their interactive website here.
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