A $167 million contract will replace Tuscaloosa’s Woolsey Finnell Bridge and upgrade about 1.5 miles of U.S. 82, or McFarland Boulevard. The new river crossing will have six lanes, up from four, and include space for pedestrians and bicyclists. Gov. Kay Ivey announced that ALDOT awarded the contract to Scott Bridge Company, the lowest of three bidders; the contract was finalized Tuesday, ABC 33/40 reported.
A river crossing on a major county route
The work covers the McFarland Boulevard corridor from near Rice Mine Road to the University Boulevard interchange ramps. It includes replacing the bridge over Campus Drive, widening the roadway and building a shared-use path across the river. The corridor carries about 50,000 vehicles a day, according to ABC 33/40.
The Tuscaloosa Area Metropolitan Planning Organization’s 2050 long-range transportation plan identifies US-82 as one of the county’s main east-west routes. That provides network context for the project, but does not establish why this particular bridge was selected for replacement.
Other documented work along US-82 is distinct from the bridge rebuild. ALDOT reported substantial completion of a project on the segment from SR-69 to Rice Mine Road, while the bridge project described here extends from near Rice Mine Road toward the University Boulevard interchange, according to ALDOT. Separately, December 2025 Tuscaloosa Area MPO meeting materials said a McFarland Boulevard project installing a new intelligent transportation system was in closeout; they do not identify it as part of the bridge contract, the committee packet shows.
Construction timing and traffic
Construction is expected to start in early 2027 and take up to four years, ABC 33/40 reported. ALDOT’s 2024 public-meeting materials said the agency plans to keep two lanes open in each direction during construction. Those materials also described three through lanes in each direction and a dedicated bicycle and pedestrian lane in the proposed layout, along with signal optimization, ALDOT reported.
One design question remains unresolved: whether the McFarland Boulevard exit onto Julia Tutwiler Drive will be eliminated. WVUA 23 reported that this element of the broader redesign was not settled.
