Public meetings to be held on Southside bridge proposals

Officials say they hope to hold public meetings about possible changes to the old Southside bridge on Alabama Highway 77 from one lane to two.  The proposed changes were discussed Thursday at a meeting of the Metropolitan Planning Organization meeting.  A plan presented to Etowah County officials in October by the Alabama Department of Transportation would provide some relief for morning traffic at the bridge. The state also agreed to cover costs if the county road department does the work.  The proposal includes a redesign that does away with one lane of traffic from Southside to Rainbow City to create two lanes across the bridge.  The bottleneck is created when going from two lanes to one and then back to two.  ALDOT officials said It’s one of the busiest stretches of highway during the peak travel time, from about 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. each morning, with about 1,500 cars. The proposal calls for the highway to be changed to two lanes in Southside, continue through the traffic light at the Fowlers Ferry Road intersection, across the bridge and continue with two lanes on the north side of the bridge.