Written by Whitley Kilcrease

There were unexpected traffic delays for motorists who dared navigate South Brundidge Street Thursday.

“It was just a surprise when I came to work this morning,” Regeina Lecroy, owner of Aunt Jean’s Cake Shop on South Brundidge Street, said. “Uneven and bumpy roads are not ideal when you’re driving cakes around.”

Road crews have resumed work on the South Brundidge Street resurfacing project, this time reducing the flow of traffic Thursday to a one-lane course from U.S. Highway 231 to University Avenue. Crews are scraping the existing pavement to get ready for the resurfacing phase of the project to begin next week.

“We are near the end,” said Mike Davis, water and sewer superintendent for the City of Troy. “We do ask businesses and residents to be patient during the completion of this project.”

Although Lecroy understands the need for progress, she said that she has several weddings planned for next week and hoped the uneven road wouldn’t have too much of an impact on her cake deliveries.

“As soon as we completed the work on the intersection [near University Avenue], we started stripping up asphalt and getting ready to resurface,” Mayor Jimmy Lunsford said. “When it’s finished we’re going to have a nice, smooth road.”

Lunsford also said a new traffic light will be installed, upon completion of the roadwork, at the intersection near CGI. There will also be replacements and upgrades on other traffic signals during this time.

While local residents and businesses have been slightly inconvenienced by the recent roadwork, most are anxious to see completion of the project.

“It needs to be done. I can’t remember the last time South Brundidge was repaved,” Martha Lynn Drinkard, owner of Jean’s Flowers on South Brundidge, said. “We’ve all got to suffer for it to get better. We can’t complain about progress.”

According to Davis, crews will spend the next few weeks milling, or scraping and grinding asphalt, back and forth along the four-lane and three-lane stretch of road between U.S. Highway 231 and Blackmon Street.

“They’re out on 231 at Burger King where they’ll start milling the old pavement, then they’ll do that through the project to Elm Street,” Davis said. “We’ve got to mill the road down about two inches and then we’ll come through with new asphalt and rebuild that up two inches again.”

The portion between Blackmon Street and University will not be milled because the recent widening of that area rendered the road two inches lower and ready for repaving.

“The only thing we’ll do there is put down a new layer of asphalt,” Davis said.

Crews will then resume the milling process from University Avenue to Elm Street. Once milling is complete, the repaving process will begin from U.S. Highway 231 to Elm Street.

Davis said the milling and resurfacing portion of the project should take roughly two or three weeks to complete. About two weeks after resurfacing, the new layer of asphalt will be ready for permanent striping.

Davis said the full project that began more than a year ago should be finished in around three to five weeks.

“Once we get this asphalt done, it should be finished fairly quickly,” Davis said.

“The City of Troy appreciates the residents and especially the businesses patience during this tedious process.”

Layne Wise, co-owner of Wise Office Supply, said the project is inconvenient but he believes the city government is doing what’s best for all Troy residents.

“I believe in Mayor Lunsford and the Troy City Council. If they think this is what needs to be done, we support it,” Wise said. “It might be a little inconvenient right now, but I think it’ll be worth it.”