Phase II of the Jack Warner Parkway renovations, on the stretch from Greensboro Avenue to 21st Avenue, is back open after almost two years of construction.
This project is part of House Bill 600, which was passed in 2016 to improve roads in Tuscaloosa County. Phase I started in December 2020 and Phase II in May 2022.
The improvements of phases I and II include a four-lane roadway divided by a median, wider sidewalks, decorative roadside lighting and underground utilities.
This phase was supposed to be complete by 2023. However, Major Walt Maddox said that because of unpredictable issues with weather and nature, the project took longer than expected.
Kendarius Malone, a senior majoring in criminology, has been working at Riverfront Village, an apartment complex on Jack Warner Parkway, for over a year.
Malone said that getting to campus from Riverfront was difficult and that the construction sometimes made him late to class. He said the construction also affected the bus routes.
“Some days they would be out there working. Some days, even weeks, you wouldn’t see them out there, so it was a mess,” Malone said.
Getting to class and campus has become easier now that the roads have cleared up, students have said.
Loco Lupes opened in September, but three weeks later, the road in front of the business closed.
Tanya Higgins, one of the co-owners of Loco Lupes, said that during the time of construction, the percentage of business decreased 50%-60%. Now that the road is open, Higgins said that there has been an influx of students and customers coming in.
“Nobody even knew we were open,” Higgins said.
Mercedes Lobb, a junior majoring in hospitality management and front desk concierge at Hotel Indigo, said that she would have to leave 30 minutes early to arrive at work on time because of all the traffic.
Lobb also mentioned that sometimes guests would have to call and ask how to get around the construction.
The project is estimated to cost around $79 million dollars, with $37.5 million being the total cost of phases I and II.
