Tuscaloosa Leaders Optimistic Railroad Trestle Project Will Finally Advance

Leaders in Tuscaloosa are hopeful that after years of delays, a project to open up a key accessway to the city's West End will finally advance.

The multi-phase, $72 million project to improve Jack Warner Parkway and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard is a core initiative of the Tuscaloosa County Road Improvement Commission and has been underway since 2020.

The completed first phase reworked traffic on Jack Warner near the Mercedes-Benz Amphitheater as well as on Martin Luther King as it heads south toward the river, and Phase II continued work heading west on Jack Warner Parkway.

Phase III has been slowed by disagreement over what to do with the city's iconic 125-year-old wooden Mobile & Ohio Railroad Trestle bridge, one of the longest and best-known in the country.

City leaders want the trestle opened up beneath the bridge where Jack Warner Parkway becomes Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. For more than five years, they have said it would make vehicle traffic safer and more convenient, but also allow for the city's downtown and riverfront to grow dramatically by developing vacant land on that side of the bridge.

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"This is where transportation and the economy merge together," Tuscaloosa Chief Operation Officer Brendan Moore said last week at the Transportation Summit hosted by the Chamber of Commerce of West Alabama. "The existing trestle acts as both a physical and psychological barrier to West Tuscaloosa and almost 120 acres of property that can be redeveloped, that can create jobs and enhance our quality of life not only in Tuscaloosa but specifically in West Tuscaloosa."

The issue, though, is that trains still cross the Black Warrior River on those rails, and negotiations with the railroad to open up the trestle under the bridge have been painfully slow.

At the Transportation Summit, though, Moore told attendees that a fresh face on the other side of negotiations may finally "unstick" the gears.

"The timeline for completing this project is pending railroad approval, and on our end we are at 100 percent of 100 percent of 100 percent," Moore said. "The exciting news, though, for [city engineer] Mike [Gardiner] and his team is that  we have a fantastic new project manager at the railroad that has rotated in. I'm talking responsive and making progress. So I feel confident that we're actually going to be able to get that one over the finish line with the rotation of a new project manager from the railroad side."

If approved and advanced, the impact of this project could be extensive as investment pours into the riverfront at the Saban Center, the Amphitheater, Parker-Haun Park, the Tuscaloosa Riverwalk and more.

For coverage of the project as it advances and more breakout points from the Transportation Summit, stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread.