ENTERPRISE, Ala. (WDHN) — A public involvement meeting will be held at the Enterprise Civic Center for an upcoming road expansion project.

On Tuesday, March 7, citizens are encouraged to attend the public meeting about expanding Alabama State Route 167 (SR-167).

The meeting will be hosted by the Southeast Alabama Regional Planning and Development Commission (SEARP&DC) from 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. This will allow the public to review project maps and information. Representatives from SEARP&DC, Sain Associates, and Barge Design Solutions will be present to answer questions and discuss the proposal.

The 60-mile roadway is a major connector between Troy, Alabama and Panama City Beach, Florida SR-167. The two-lane road enters Coffee County from Dale County, passes through Enterprise, and proceeds northerly into Pike County.

The route is heavily traveled by freight traffic and also serves as an emergency access route.

“Expanding 167 from two lanes to four lanes will benefit the entire Wiregrass region and the state of Alabama. Improving this north/south corridor has the potential to not only improve the FEMA evacuation route, allow our military community to more easily receive and deploy assets, create economic trade opportunities with a robust roadway to get goods where they need to go, and attract visitors from around the country.”

Enterprise Mayor William E. Cooper

SR-167 is the main route for north/south transportation of goods and services from Coffee and Geneva County, as well as Holmes County in Florida. The endpoint of the route is at the Florida State line, where SR-167 changes to Florida State Road 79 (SR-79).

The Florida Department of Transportation has a goal to four-lane SR-79 from I-10 to the Alabama state line.

“We hope that the citizens of Enterprise will come out to show their support for this expansion,” Cooper said. “It’s important for our community to have their voices heard and communicate how passionate they are about widening this roadway.”

To allow city leaders to attend and show their support for the project, the Enterprise City Council work session will begin at 4:00 p.m. at the Enterprise Civic Center. The City Council meeting will begin at 6:00 p.m. at Enterprise City Hall.

The next public meeting will be on Tuesday, March 14, at Wiregrass Electric Cooperative in Hartford, Ala. from 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.