Rendering courtesy of Ryan Vernon, with Lathan and Associates.
A rendering of the new softball complex planned for Trussville City Schools in 2024.
It’s fitting that 2024 is a leap year.
The city of Trussville will be angling to accomplish a lot this year and to make a leap on some “have-to” projects.
“I hope [this] year, when it’s completed, we can say that the city will continue to move forward,” Mayor Buddy Choat said. “I mean, if we are able to do everything we want to do [this] year, then that just gives us a lot of hope, a lot more hope, going into 2025.”
The hope begins at the Glendale Farms property, a large portion of which the city purchased to be the site of a future fourth elementary school. Conceptual drawings show multipurpose athletic fields, a technology-based park, shops, restaurants and a 10,000-square-foot workforce development location for Jefferson State Community College.
“Obviously, Glendale is on the radar right now,” Choat said.
Another emphasis will be the loop roads in the downtown Trussville area. Relocating utilities has been the focus since last year to prepare for construction.
The first road connection to be constructed will begin at Talley Street and pass in front of where the Trussville Church of Christ building once was and behind Trussville First United Methodist Church. It will connect with Glenn Avenue, which ends at the intersection with Main Street by Marco’s Pizza, where there is now a traffic signal.
The second loop road will involve creating a road between North Chalkville Road and Edgar’s Bakery, connecting near the John Street and Vann Circle area. Choat said that engineers estimate the loop roads will take approximately 9,000 cars per day out of the Main Street-Chalkville Road intersection. Choat said he expects that the project will go to bid during the first quarter of 2024 and will take 12 to 18 months to construct.
The widening of North Chalkville Road is also expected to go to bid. The project will include adding another lane from the Stonegate subdivision to the Interstate 59 interchange, with the goal of alleviating traffic backup on Chalkville Mountain Road.
Choat said Trussville Fire Station No. 4, currently under construction on Trussville-Clay Road, is expected to be complete in October. The 2024 budget includes the construction, salaries and new equipment for the station.
“That’ll be our last station, and once we get it, I think we’ll feel good about the presence we have with all our fire personnel and locations,” Choat said.
Other noteworthy future projects that Choat mentioned include:
- The partnership between the city and school system to construct a new softball complex near Trussville-Clay Road and Husky Parkway
- Attracting businesses to pad-ready sites in the Trussville Industrial Park
- Establishing the city’s own civil service employment system after leaving the Jefferson County Personnel Board
- Turfing all the fields at the Trussville Sports Complex and converting one to a Miracle League field
- Pursuing development opportunities on Deerfoot Parkway
- New floors and bleachers at the Cherokee Drive gym and Parkway Drive “blue gym”
“The hardest part is to have confidence in the history that we’ve had as far as revenues and sales tax, property taxes, business licenses, things like that,” Choat said. “You’ve just got to trust what you see [in] a pattern over several years, and we’re very fortunate in Trussville. We see growth in revenues every year. This year we forecast about 6% growth. That’s challenging at times. I guess the hardest part is there are so many things that we would like to do, that our city has grown to the point of.”
