The Birmingham City Council voted Tuesday to approve a three-year agreement with Jefferson County to continue the Gateway Beautification Project, cleaning up public areas along roadways and near exit ramps.

Both the city and the county will contribute more than $1.7 million each over the next three years as part of the effort that began to improve the city’s look to visitors for the 2022 World Games.

“It’s made a huge difference in the overall appearance of our city, especially the Arkadelphia exit,” council member Carol Clarke said. “When this program started, we had a lot of private citizens contribute funds and I didn’t want them to go unnoticed. This was truly a pubic-private partnership that’s benefitted the entire city.”

The effort focuses on right of way areas controlled by the Alabama Department of Transportation, which does two scheduled mowings per year.

It has included clearing privet and other overgrowth along fence lines.

The idea was to improve the look of the city’s gateways, such as the Red Mountain Expressway and the Arkadelphia exit on Interstate 20/59, said Council President Darrell O’Quinn.

“This has been a huge improvement, especially along the ‘cut’ on the Red Mountain Expressway, which a lot of people use daily — visitors and residents alike,” O’Quinn said.

“We had a lot of litter and debris that has been accumulating there for some time,” he said. “No one wants to see that kind of blight every day. I also want to thank our private sector partners who stepped up in the beginning with very significant financial contributions. The City along with our partners at the County recognize what’s at stake here and we want to continue these efforts to keep Birmingham beautiful.”

This week, the city will be hosting the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament at BJCC Legacy Arena.

From March 28-31, Birmingham will host the Regional bracket of the NCAA Women’s March Madness Basketball Tournament at the Legacy Arena.

Those teams include: (1) South Carolina vs. (4) Maryland; (2) Duke vs. (3) North Carolina; (2) TCU vs. (3) Notre Dame; and (1) Texas vs.(5) Tennessee.

“Any time we’re able to host a large-scale event like this in Birmingham, and pull it off in a safe and effective way, it’s a huge win,” said council member Hunter Williams, chair of the Economic Development and Tourism Committee.

“It has a snowball effect,” Williams said. “This helps us build our resume because we’re able to show that we have the capacity to host major events and show people a great time. We learned a lot about intergovernmental cooperation during the World Games and how important that is to work together on submitting bids rather than working in siloes. Sports and tourism has become a big part of our local economy and we’re going to continue working with all our regional partners — the BJCC, the Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau, the County and others — to keep this momentum going.”