ANNA GREEN

The Alabama Department of Transportation started the process to install a new traffic light on Highway 87 near Spradley Drive in the coming months.

Pike County Commissioner Jimmy Barron, who also works for ALDOT, said preliminary work is being done on a traffic light for the Oak Park subdivision still undergoing construction.

“The traffic light will assist with the safety of Spradley Drive and the new subdivision going in across the street,” Barron said. “There are three subdivisions down Spradley and with the Oak Park subdivision being built, this will help everyone.”

Preliminary work included putting in traffic loops, which hold sensors for the traffic light.

Installing the sensors caused only minimal traffic delays on Tuesday.

“The actual light will be installed whenever the city gets all the materials in,” said Troy Mayor Jimmy Lunsford.

“The work that is going on right now is just spotting where the poles will go and installing loops,” Lunsford said.

“It will probably be close to a month before the light is installed.”

Traffic engineer Jason Boothe requested that drivers be cautious of roadwork when driving on Highway 87, once the project starts back in the next few weeks.

“People just need to be careful when driving through. Before we actually turn the signal on, we will put a notice in the paper,” said Boothe. “We will set the light to flash for several days in order for people to get used to it before we make it a functioning stop light.”

Lunsford said that the installation of the light will benefit the city of Troy.

“It will be a great addition to that area. We’ve needed a light there for some time,” said Lunsford. “The addition of the new subdivision across the street gave us the traffic count that is needed to install a light, and I appreciate the state working with us to put the light in.”