FOLEY – Juniper Street will be closed to non-local traffic near Miflin Road starting Sept. 18 to allow the last phase of work to extend the route to Alabama 59 to be completed.

Contractors have been working to extend Juniper south from Millin Road, Baldwin County 20, to Alabama 59. As part of the final stage of the project, Juniper will be shifted to align the road with the extension.

Mayor Ralph Hellmich said the detours are necessary in order to complete the work.

“We will be detouring people probably on Pride Drive back to 59 and then out to 20 on to Pride Drive. Local traffic there will be signage,” Hellmich said. “It’s gonna take a couple months. It will be a headache. A lot of people use that road, but this is getting that project done.”

Jeff Phillips, Foley construction projects manager, said the change will happen soon. He said signs announcing the upcoming detours will be put in place Friday, Sept. 8. The road will be closed to traffic south of Kenny Stabler Avenue starting Sept. 18.

The change will require traffic to be rerouted while the work is going on. Traffic will be rerouted to East Pride Boulevard and then to Miflin Road during construction. Juniper Street south of Pride Boulevard will continue to be accessible for local traffic going to locations such as Tanger Outlet Mall, Wade Distributors, Riviera Furniture and the Gulf Bowl.

The work is expected to require that the section of Juniper Street be closed for several months.

The project will complete the alignment of Juniper Street to match the new extension. Construction crews will also install new mast arms, mast arm poles and signal heads while the street is closed. New sidewalks on both sides of Juniper as well as curbs, gutters, a transition curb and the milling of transitions for the new paving will also be completed while the street is closed.

The project calls for Juniper to be extended south from Miflin Road, then turn to the southwest and then west to link with Alabama 59 at Baldwin County 20 South. The total cost of the work is about $4.53 million.