Redstone Arsenal Gate 7.JPG

Work recently wrapped up on a $7.7 million project to four-lane Martin Road on the west side of Redstone Arsenal. (Eric Schultz | eschultz@al.com)

Busy Martin Road is now at least four lanes across the entire length of Redstone Arsenal.

Officials from the Army and City of Huntsville held a joint news conference Wednesday morning to mark the occasion, and to highlight even more road improvements happening outside the arsenal fence.

By the time the dust settles in 2018, an estimated $60 million in city, state and federal dollars will have been spent improving roads leading to and from Gate 7 - the arsenal's westernmost entrance.

This map shows the current status of projects to improve Martin and Zierdt roads near Redstone Arsenal's Gate 7. (Courtesy City of Huntsville)

Mayor Tommy Battle said the $7.7 million project to widen Martin Road on base between Rideout Road and Gate 7 - a distance of about two miles - was a response to the last BRAC that brought about 4,500 Department of Defense jobs to Huntsville. Some 38,000 people now work on Redstone Arsenal.

With the arsenal portion of Martin Road completed, the city is turning attention to five-laning the busy road from Gate 7 west to Glenn Hearn Boulevard near Huntsville International Airport.

"We have helped to improve internal capacity on base, and now we are working to extend Martin Road to the airport, providing arsenal employees traveling in from the west an improved, faster route to work," said Battle.

Redstone Garrison Commander Col. Bill Marks called the road work a good example of collaboration between the city and Army.

"On behalf of 38,000 workers on arsenal, I thank you," Marks said at Wednesday's news conference.

Huntsville Director of Urban Development Shane Davis said the city is currently acquiring the right-of-way needed to expand Martin Road west of the arsenal; construction is expected to start in early 2016.

The $25 million project will widen Martin Road for a distance of three miles, with sidewalks and dedicated bike lanes in each direction. Two old bridges will also be replaced.

Davis said the city has $18.2 million in state and federal funding, including a grant from the Alabama Transportation and Rehabilitation Improvement Program, to put toward Martin Road. Huntsville has pledged $6.7 million in matching money, he said.

Plans to convert two-lane Zierdt Road into a four-lane divided boulevard are even farther along. Davis said SJ&L Contracting is expected to begin building the new northbound lanes at the end of January. Completion is scheduled for the summer of 2016.

Zierdt Road is being widened from near Gate 7 to Madison Boulevard, a distance of about 3.5 miles. A new "multiuse path" will be built along the west side of the road.

City officials hope the road upgrades make Gate 7 more attractive for arsenal employees from west Huntsville, Madison, Limestone County and Decatur who now use congested Gate 9 on Rideout Road.

"These road improvements are critical in our ability to move traffic on and off of the arsenal," said Battle.