A state project to improve an intersection in the heart of Clanton will likely produce some headaches while the work is taking place.

The intersection of Seventh Street North and Fourth Avenue North, or U.S. Highway 31 and Alabama Highway 22, will be widened in the coming weeks and months.

Most would agree that it’s a needed project. Large trucks regularly pound into metal utility poles at the intersection, and swing wide into other lanes as they turn, forcing vehicles to reverse out of the way.

But the project, which is estimated to begin April 6 and last 140 days, will force the closure of the intersection of two of the major thoroughfares through Clanton.

“We don’t have a clue what the impact is going to be,” Clanton Police Capt. Neil Fetner said. “We’re going to do the best we can.”

During the work, traffic traveling on Highway 31 will be detoured to avoid most of downtown Clanton.

Northbound traffic on Highway 31 will be routed onto Sixth Street South at the Clanton Post Office. The stop sign that sits at the end of Sixth Street, basically in front of the post office, will be removed, creating a free flow for traffic from 31 onto Sixth Street and vice versa.

The 31 detour will have traffic heading up Sixth Street to Second Avenue South and then over to Alabama Highway 145. Traffic would take Ollie Avenue from 145 back to 31.

The opposite of that route would be used for traffic coming down 31 from north of Clanton.

Meanwhile, traffic traveling east into Clanton on Hwy. 22 will be detoured onto Eighth Street South to Jackson Avenue, then over to Sixth Street, Second Avenue and the other detour route.

Large trucks will have to give downtown Clanton an even wider berth. Because of their size and weight, trucks trying to travel west on 22 will have to take 31 north to Jemison, then Hwy. 191 over to rejoin 22 in Maplesville.

Given the detours, the intersections at Jackson Avenue and Sixth Street, and at Hwy. 145 and Ollie Avenue, are likely to become much more congested than usual.

All downtown roads will remain open during the project, other than the intersection. Locals will just have take some creative routes to get where they want to go.

Officials stressed that the plan outlined above is not the first one discussed, and it could very well change again before or during the project. Motorists should always use caution and pay attention to signs.

According to an Alabama Department of Transportation resource, Seventh Street South just south of downtown Clanton is among the busiest stretches of roadway in the city, with an average of 15,040 vehicles traveling it in a day in 2013. All of that traffic will be transferred to Sixth Street.

Other affected areas are similarly busy. Daily averages were 11,120 on 31 near the intersection where the project will take place; 7,710 on Fourth Avenue North just west of town; 8,440 on Highway 145 near the intersection with Ollie Avenue; and 12,880 on 31 on the northern part of town.

The Clanton Police Department hosted a meeting Monday to explain the plan to business owners who could be affected.

“When this is done it’s really going to be good,” CPD Chief Brian Stilwell said. “It’s the 140 days in the meantime we have to get through. We’re going to work as hard as we can to make it as painless as possible.”

Stilwell and other police officials presented slides showing the detours to about 50 attendees at the Clanton Municipal Court room.

Also at the meeting were Clanton Mayor Billy Joe Driver and City Council members.

Clanton Police distributed contact information for business owners to use if they run into or see a problem.

CPD will also have officers assigned to handling downtown traffic during the project, whether it be directing traffic, helping a truck navigate to make a local delivery or possible addressing vehicles parked along Sixth Street clogging up the roadway.

City-owned parking lots adjacent to Sixth Street are located behind Clanton City Hall and next to Speaks & Speaks attorneys’ office.

The bid for the project was awarded to Chilton Contractors, a local company that could be more sensitive to the inconveniences it will cause. Chilton Contractors recently opened an office near the intersection, off Fifth Avenue North.

Deliveries to local businesses will be an issue, but police stress that they will work with drivers to get them where they need to go.

Other problems are likely, especially until drivers become accustomed to the detours, but more nightmarish scenarios are plausible: a stalled train blocking Jackson Avenue (and thus the only railroad crossing in town), or a shutdown of Interstate 65 forcing a mass of traffic onto Highway 31–and thus into the detours.

“It’s literally going to be a mess if it comes down to the worst-case scenario,” Fetner said.