In Opelika, which grew from 23,000 people in 2000 to nearly 30,000 in 2015, Mayor Gary Fuller dreams of building a beltline around the city, extending from Exit 66 of I-85 - near Opelika's Northeast Industrial Park - to U.S. 431 and on to U.S. 280.

"What we’d like to do is begin a loop road – and we may be able to use part of Andrews Road; we want to come across to 431, then ultimately we want to bring it across to 280," Fuller said.

"That’s a pretty ambitious project, but it’s a long-term project that's on our radar. An outer loop road would open up an awful lot of timberland for new areas for development. And it could be very convenient for industrial folks and, for traffic, trucks that are going to Atlanta – they may want to take the loop road.”

Fuller said a first step in building such a road would be buying real estate.

“What we need to do over the next few years is to acquire the right of way . We can go ahead and acquire that, and it may be 10 years before it’s built. ... It may be 10 years, it may be 20 years, but (if) we’ve got the right of way, we’ve got a place to put the road.”

Fuller continued, “One of the things we try to do -- and we work at it -- is with planning and public works and the engineering department, the phrase I use with them is ‘Let’s not outkick our coverage.’ What I think is incumbent upon city government is that we maintain our growth. That means infrastructure, which is roads, waste water, storm water, of course all the other utilities, and trying to think of what’s going to be required from all these city services.

“This is the hottest growth area for new jobs, for retail and residential I know in the state of Alabama, and it’s one of the hottest ones in the South.”

Fuller touts recent developments in Opelika, including the completion of improvements to Frederick Road, the bridge on Oak Bowery Road completed earlier this month and improvements to the intersection of Pepperell Parkway and Pleasant Drive, as successes for the city. He points out that more improvements are on the way, including a bridge on Cunningham Drive between First Avenue and Frederick Road that will be designed in the fall, and another on North Uniroyal Road just off Columbus Parkway, with work expected to begin about six months after the Cunningham Drive project starts.

Upcoming traffic signal and intersection improvements will be at Commerce Drive and Pepperell Parkway (in cooperation with the City of Auburn), at Spring Street and Pepperell Parkway, at Fox Run Parkway and Jeter Street, at LaFayette Parkway and Lake Condy Road, and at Second Avenue and North Sixth Street.

Burgeoning population

Auburn, which has nearly doubled in population since 1970, grew from 53,380 in 2010 to an estimated 62,210 in 2014, according to Census figures. The city grew by 9.7 percent between April 1, 2010, and July 1, 2013, and projects growth to 87,916 by 2030, according to its website.

Public Works Director Jeff Ramsey said the city performed a comprehensive traffic study several years ago to identify major congestion areas, and has used that study as a road map to improve traffic flow.

Improvements to intersections of Dean Road and Samford Avenue, Shelton Mill Road and East University Drive, Opelika Road and East University Drive, and Shug Jordan Parkway and South College Street were identified in the study and have been completed.

Ramsey said the city is working to install additional lanes on Moores Mill Road between East University Drive and Grove Hill Road, Donahue Drive between Cary Drive and Bedell Avenue and on Wire Road west of Webster Road. Work is also ongoing to improve the intersection of Samford Avenue and South College Street, and t he city is planning to install a traffic signal at Cox Road and Longleaf Drive.

Ramsey explained that Auburn works with the Lee-Russell Council of Governments on a long-range transportation plan, which looks at Lee County as a whole, to identify traffic congestion areas. From that plan, the city comes up with ways to ease congestion and incorporates them into the city’s Capital Improvement Plan (CIP).

The city also works with developers to address potential congestion problems, which sometimes lead to the need for additional lanes and/or traffic signals at the developer’s expense, and with Auburn University to develop game-day traffic plans, which are evaluated each year and modified as needed.

“The City of Auburn has allocated major resources to ensure we are addressing congestion concerns as we continue to grow," Ramsey said.

“ Annually, we look for high accident areas and areas suffering from poor levels of service. We work to improve traffic flows by installing additional lanes like Glenn Avenue between College Street and Donahue Drive. We have and will continue to monitor congestion issues and address them as needed.”

Ramsey said citizen surveys show that satisfaction has improved significantly since 2006. " We still have work to do, but with the City Council’s support, we are able to address congestion concerns as we continue grow. The city is very proactive in addressing congestion issues. We are committed to addressing traffic issues for both the short and long term.”

More roads than money

Lee County Engineer Justin Hardee said the county has more roads than money for upkeep, resulting in an average repaving schedule of 57 years, but that's not stopping the county from repairing roads. Because different roads are set at different priority levels, some are resurfaced more often. Hardee described the resurfacing schedule as "living on a road that is resurfaced when you’re in first grade, then again when you’re drawing Social Security."

“Roads are designed and built in a perfect world to last 15 to 20 years,” he said, adding, “Every mile doesn’t cost the same."

Each year, Lee County receives $533,000 in federal aid through the Alabama Department of Transportation. The 20 percent local match is $133,250. Only roads classified as a major collector or higher are qualified for upkeep with that funding.

Parts of Lee County lie within the Auburn-Opelika and Columbus-Phenix City metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), and the county receives approximately $437,500 per year between the two MPOs, including the local match.

“We’re pursuing pretty much every resource we have in trying to address our resurfacing needs,” Hardee said.

In the last five years, Lee County's annual resurfacing budget has been about $1.5 million, with an annual federal aid matching budget of $760,000.

The county also received $9.7 million in one-time ATRIP funds to go toward resurfacing. With a local match of $2.4 million, the county invested $12.1 million into resurfacing 41.56 miles of road.

For bridge replacements, the county received $6.8 million from ATRIP, with a local match of $1.7 million for a total of $8.5 million to replace 15 functionally obsolete bridges.

“We have completed three of the eight resurfacing projects that were awarded through ATRIP, and all three have come under the contract amount,” Hardee said.

He expects two more projects to be approved at Monday’s County Commission meeting .

In 2014, the average cost to resurface a mile with federal funds was $255,469.53 – about a 38-year repaving cycle on Lee County's available funds.

That same year, the average cost to resurface a mile with local funds was $200,000, which calculates to a 67.5-year repaving cycle.

The county has 506 miles of paved roads that are not eligible for federal funds.

Hardee said getting the 673 miles of paved roads in Lee County on a desired 20-year repaving cycle would take $7.4 million in annual funding -- $4.8 million per year more than is now available.

Traffic is likely increasing, as well. Lee County was home to 140,799 people in 2010, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That number grew to 154,255 by 2014. Of those, roughly 64,000 drivers commute to work every day.

While construction costs have more than doubled, gas tax has remained stagnant for two decades, and cars are becoming more fuel-efficient.

“We’ve got to find other means,” Hardee said. “It’s very much a national issue; it’s not just Alabama or Lee County.”

Opelika-Auburn News staff members Meagan Hurley, Katherine Haas, and Sara Falligant contributed to this report.