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Church hopes center will resurface road's deadly past

By Christie Ileto - bio | email

LITTLEVILLE, AL (WAFF) - There's a WAFF 48 news update on a corridor with a deadly past in Colbert County.

Road work has begun on Highway 43, but people who live in the Littleville community said that's not enough.

Residents are going the extra mile to ensure teens aren't killed on that deadly stretch of road by breaking ground on a project of their own for a family life center.

They hope it will help combat fatalities on that road by giving teens a place to go.

Highway 43 in Colbert County has seen its fair share of deadly wrecks because of weather, human error, and sometimes, unknown factors.

It's cause pain that's weighed heavily on a community with seven lives lost to crashes in the past four months, but Pastor Paul Cummings hopes all that is about to change.

"We're going to put a 40 by 120 foot building here," he said as he walked the newly cleared lot.

The lot is adjacent to his church, North Highland Baptist.

It's only half a mile from where several of the deaths occurred.

"They're doing special work on the road to try and stop people from driving so fast down there and we still believe that we need something here to get kids off the street," he said.

Feelings shared by youth church member Ashley Michael.

"If we had a family life center, some of them may have been in church, they would have had something better to do than be out on the streets," she added.

Highway 43 is marked with orange cones, flashing lights and uneven pavement. The 300-million dollar project will resurface roads, add guard rails and medians to make the busy highway safer.

Community members hope the future life center will be the key to resurfacing the corridor's deadly past.

Tony Harris with ALDOT has told WAFF 48 News the contractor is making progress and expects to finish by the fall.

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