Wednesday marked the official end of the repaving of 14.6 miles of Alabama Hwy. 55 from River Falls to Red Level.

Bill Wofford, state Department of Transportation district engineer, said Thursday the project was completed without any significant traffic problems, but he knows motorists will be glad to see the project come to an end.

It took DOT workers nearly a year to complete the two-phase project with an estimated cost of $5 million, he said. The roadway’s final striping and reflectors were installed Wednesday, he said.

“We broke it down into a northern section and a southern section of roadway,” he said.

“The northern portion started April 2009; the southern, October 2009. The first portion we milled up or tore up the old stuff then resurfaced.

“But we ran across a problem with the shoulders of the road, they were breaking up,” he said.

“So on the second phase we went across it with a surface treatment to seal the cracks and then resurfaced. That worked much better.”

Wofford said the department has several projects in the works; however, no definitive plans have been released.