Ivey on-hand in Fayette for highway project celebration

By WVUA 23 News Reporter Aajene Robinson

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey and local officials gathered in Fayette this morning, offering an update on the Rebuild Alabama Fayette County road project.

State Sen. Greg Reed was in attendance and said he’s excited about what this means for Fayette County and the state as a whole.

“If Alabama is going to be all that we want her to be, she is going to have to grow in the rural communities as well as in the urban communities,” Reed said. “Evidence of those efforts focused on a Rebuild Alabama project spending $250 million doing just that right here in this community is a day of celebration.”

The 16-mile-long project will provide four-lane access from Fayette to Interstate 22.

Ivey said this project is crucial in providing economic and infrastructure development in the state.

“As long as I’m your Governor, days like today and events like this will continue,” Ivey said. “The folks of Fayette and all across the state will feel the benefits of Rebuild Alabama for years to come.”

Fayette Mayor Rod Northam said any time you can bring the governor to your community is a great day.

“Having grown up here in the city of Fayette and having always heard, ‘well Fayette is a beautiful city, but it’s hard to get there,’ this is going to help us solve that problem,” Northam said. “Having a four-lane highway connecting us to I-22 is going to open up so many possibilities, and we so appreciate the governor being here to make that announcement with us today.”

The next step is a public involvement meeting, and then Ivey will return to Fayette for the project’s official groundbreaking.