Work began the first week of November on the first phase of construction on South Three Notch Street.

Daniel Wells of CDG Engineers said Friday the first phase of the project widens the street from Simmons Street to Railroad Avenue.

This phase also includes installation of a new sanitary sewerage line in the center of the street.

The street widening has begun on the southbound side of the street, and should not interrupt traffic, Wells said. Because this is first, lanes will be available on each side of the street when the sewerage line is installed.

“It will be a rock surface for local business traffic,” he said. “We would like to move non-essential traffic for better safety.

This phase will be three or four months long,” Wells said. “We just want drivers traveling in both directions to be aware.”

Wiregrass Construction won the bid for the project, which is being managed by the State Department of Transportation.

The State of Alabama awarded Andalusia an $8.6 million ATRIP grant in 2013 for the repairs to the southern entrance to the city. The project required a $2.1 million local match. ATRIP is a program Bentley designed in which future federal dollars were pledged against a bond issue to fund current projects.

The project has been in the planning and design phases since that time. The work will take almost a year.

A later phase of the project will line up Snowden Drive and Moore Road where they intersect with South Three Notch. The street will be three lanes in its widest parts near the hospital, and two lanes into town.