Improvements to County Road 42 in Jemison will soon be underway as the project was let out for contract Aug. 28.

The resurfacing project, a state-approved project, was originally scheduled to be let out for contract by the last week of May.

Officials with the city of Jemison confirmed on Sept. 3 that Chilton County-based Chilton Contractors was the company who received the bid for the project.

Delays with obtaining a right-of-way prompted plans for the project to be postponed.

The resurfacing project will be allowed 90 working days to complete the project, according to information on ALDOT’s website.

The city had to replace a culvert near a portion of County Road 42 that resulted in the city acquiring some property around the culvert earlier this year.

The city’s match for the project is roughly $200,000. The project is expected to cost roughly $1.5 million.

According to ALDOT’s website, the length of the project is 4.341 miles.

City officials said they have not received specific details regarding the project including detours for traffic during construction, but they anticipate finding out more about the project in the next couple of weeks.

Many residents have expressed concern to city officials, thinking the city is responsible for the upkeep of the road, but there has been little the city could do since it is a state project.

The resurfacing project is covered under a $1 billion project known as Alabama Transportation Rehabilitation and Improvement Program (ATRIP).

Originally, Chilton County entered the ATRIP program with three projects in Phase 1 approved.

During the Dec. 10, 2012, Chilton County Commission meeting, commissioners voted to participate in the Rural Assistance Match Program (RAMP), where counties and cities are eligible to receive as much as $1 million in state funds to match an additional $4 million in federal funds.

RAMP allows ALDOT to sell bonds to provide the local match for participating counties and cities.

Counties taking part in RAMP previously had no projects, or only limited projects, as part of ATRIP due to limited local funds.

RAMP did not require the matching funds the county would have had to come up with under ATRIP.

RAMP allows additional counties to take part in Gov. Robert Bentley’s statewide road improvement initiative of ATRIP.

All 67 Alabama counties have now received ATRIP projects since Bentley established the program in 2012.