The Alabama Department of Transportation and Butler County will be cooperating on two widening and resurfacing projects in the county this fall.

County Road 42 (Manningham Road) will be widened and resurfaced from County Road 71 (Manningham Loop) to County Road 54 (Ridge Road), a distance of 3.143 miles, and County Road 54 will be widened and resurfaced from Dickens Field Road to County Road 42, a distance of 3.143 miles.

County Engineer Dennis McCall said low-bidder APAC Construction had been awarded the projects at a cost of $548, 549 for CR 42 and $408, 346 for CR 54.

“We are doing these projects using Federal Aid Resurfacing Funds from 2010 and 2011 with the county matching 20 percent of the cost, or almost $200,000,” McCall said.

For anyone wondering why their own county road hasn’t received this type of revamping, the answer, says McCall, is simple.

“These federal funds are reserved for major collector roads, which these two roads happen to be. Major collectors receive a higher degree of traffic,” McCall said.

“Minor collector roads are not eligible for these federal funds, and have to be paid for by 100 percent local funds. Obviously, that limits what we can do, and that’s a real concern for being able to do work other than routine maintenance.”

Approximately 200 miles out of the county’s 550 miles of road are classified as major collector roads.

McCall said the actual construction should take 30 working days. The project is slated to begin this October.