Lauderdale County Alabama Road Department

04/14/2022

The annual bridge inspection on Happy Hollow Bridge located on Co Rd 47 is now complete and open to thru traffic. We apologize for any inconvenience.

04/01/2021

Late on March 31st we were notified about a small barge that contained construction equipment that had been washed downstream after Wednesday's heavy rainfall and came to rest against the side of Happy Hollow bridge on County Road 47. Out of an abundance of caution we closed the bridge to vehicle traffic and monitored the situation throughout the night. The water receded several feet and the water velocity slowed dramatically this morning allowing for a safe recovery of the barge by it's owner. We inspected the affected portion of the bridge and found no damage. The bridge is back open to traffic. We apologize for any inconveniences this may have made in your morning commute and thank you for your patience!

03/17/2021

08/19/2020

Lauderdale County is now selling surplus vehicles and equipment on www.govdeals.com. The link below will access what we currently have up for auction.

GovDeals is the place to bid on government surplus and unclaimed property including heavy equipment, cars, trucks, buses, airplanes, and so much more.

03/21/2019

Happy Hollow Bridge on County Road 47 will have a 15 ton weight limit restriction as of March 21, 2019.

Late last week our bridge inspection team was made aware that the bridge had been hit by a piece of machinery that was being hauled on a large truck. We did an inspection and had concerns about the damage and wanted to investigate it further. Due to this, and to err on the side of caution, we lowered the weight limit of the bridge to 3 tons. This weight restriction was to prevent anything other than a passenger car/truck from crossing the bridge. We contacted ALDOT's Emergency Bridge Inspection Team to have them look at the damage to make sure that we were all on the same page. After another detailed inspection today we feel that the bridge should have a weight restriction of 15 tons.

The trailer truck restriction is still in place and will be monitored by local law enforcement. The incident last week is exactly why we have this restriction in place.

Happy Hollow Bridge was built in the 1920's and is what is called a "steel truss" bridge. It is a somewhat complex structure that is a lot different than what we would design today. We inspect and monitor it closely to ensure that it is absolutely safe for the travelling public. We apologize for the recent closings and fluctuation of the weight limit but we will always do all that we can to ensure that this bridge, and all of our other bridges, are safe for you to use.

05/22/2018

One of these pictures is an alligator in the road somewhere in Florida, the other is a picture of a road that had "alligator cracking" in Lauderdale County. Both are dangerous, but for different reasons. Alligator cracking is when asphalt is tired and ready to give up, when we see this type of asphalt failure we know that the road is getting ready to fail. The problem is that with all of these cracks in the road it allows for water to easily get into the road bed which is a bad thing. When we find areas that are failing like this we try to repair them as soon as possible to prevent any more damage. So, if you see an alligator in the road don't call the Road Department, call somebody else. But if you see alligator cracking like is in the picture, give us a call so that we can try to fix the area before it gets any worse.

04/24/2018

There is a lot that goes into inspecting the 189 bridges that we maintain here in Lauderdale County. All of these bridges are on a strict inspection schedule, we have skilled inspectors that do a great job of making sure that all of these bridges are safe for the travelling public.

FLORENCE — The small boat, loaded with engineers and divers, slowly left the shoreline of Shoal Creek, making its way across the creek and underneath Happy Hollow Bridge.

04/19/2018

The county road 10 bridge is open to through traffic now! This was a big project, we're proud of how it turned out.

FLORENCE — Lauderdale County Commissioner Roger Garner said progress often brings inconvenience.

04/18/2018

Our new remote control Bomag vibratory trench compactor is doing big things on County road 63 this week. As we are preparing roads for new asphalt we identify and dig out areas that need repair. After we dig out these areas we fill them back in with appropriate material. The trick is making sure it gets compacted well. This machine allows us to get into smaller areas and is safe to operate. Don't let its small size fool you, this thing packs a big punch!

We're working to make our County roads safer!

04/17/2018

The County Road 61 bridge girders are set!

04/13/2018

Has anyone seen these trailer trucks driving through the Shoals today and wondered what they are and where they're headed? These are the large concrete girders that are being set on the County Road 61 bridge today! This is the part of the project when we transition from vertical construction to horizontal.