Foley, Ala. – (OBA) – Foley will get more money to improve the intersection at Alabama 59 and Baldwin County 12.

The Foley City Council voted recently to accept an increase in funding from the Alabama Department of Transportation for improvements at the intersection. The money comes from the Alabama Transportation Rehabilitation and Improvement Program II, known as ATRIP II, grant program.

The state will provide an additional $1 million toward the project, Jeff Phillips, Foley construction manager, said.

“Originally our ATRIP grant was $1 million,” Phillips said. “That was bumped to $2 million. That's the maximum amount you can get through ATRIP just for the $180,000 (local funding) match.” Foley officials approved the project, but have not received permission from the state to move forward. Mayor Ralph Hellmich said the city will start work on the project as soon as ALDOT officials allow.

“We are hoping to go to bid on the County Road 12 upgrade intersection on 59 as soon as ALDOT lets us do that. That was approved two years ago. It’s ready to go,” Hellmich said. Since plans for the project began, the cost estimates for the work have increased, Hellmich said.

“They had to approve supplemental money with ATRIP because the prices have gone up,” Hellmich said. “That’s something all our cities are dealing with is the astronomical increase in goods and services. We work really hard to keep our projects under budget with our construction managers and we do a pretty good job, but just the time it takes to design things, the prices go up and it’s affecting all of our cities and counties.”