After nearly a decade of funding issues and pushback from environmentalists, officials say construction on ALDOT’s Northern Beltline is set to begin again in spring of next year.

The proposed beltline consists of a 52-mile, six-lane corridor stretching from Interstate 59 in northeast Jefferson County to the I-459 interchange with I-59/20 near Bessemer.

Although the idea for a loop surrounding Birmingham had been discussed since the 1960s, official planning first began three decades later in the early 90s according to Bhamwiki.

Since then, the project has been plagued by constant starts and stops due to issues with funding.

The most recent of these was a halt in the fall of 2016 after the beltline was not included in the 2018 federal transportation funding bill according to an article by former AL.com reporter Erin Edgemon.