Chuck Williams: Asking what's best for Eufaula

Four times John Cooper has walked the median of North Eufaula Avenue.

The director of the Alabama Department of Transportation has taken the time to know and understand the hallowed ground that sits between some of Alabama's most historic homes and is the centerpiece of a postcard-worthy tree-lined avenue.

Cooper is confident the proposal he champions to widen that 0.8-mile stretch of road is absolutely the right thing to do.

"I am very familiar with this project," Cooper said last week. "I have looked closely at those trees. And I can tell you that I do not think we will damage the trees in any meaningful way."

A vocal opposition, led by the Eufaula Heritage Association, is fighting Cooper and ALDOT in the court of public opinion -- and now in federal court.

The city, joined in the lawsuit by state and federal preservation trusts, is awaiting a ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Myron Thompson on its request for a temporary restraining order to halt the project. That should come on New Year's Eve if mediation efforts fail this week.

The opposition in Eufaula is fighting to protect about 80 mostly oaks and magnolias, some of which have been growing for a century or more. If North Eufaula Avenue goes from two lanes to four, some in the opposition are concerned about the potential decline of property values and harm to the tourist industry.

Cooper said it not only needs to happen, it must happen to relieve congestion that builds when metro Atlanta decides it's time to head to the Florida beaches.

The talking point for those opposed to the project is simple: The state of Alabama cares more about quickly getting Georgia traffic through Alabama so people can spend their money in the Florida panhandle than it does its own citizens.

Cooper doesn't buy that argument.

"There is significant congestion there," Cooper said. "They are saying I am hurting the people of Alabama to help the people of Georgia. I am telling you, there are a lot of people from Alabama on that road, too. It is a U.S. highway, and I am obligated to administer it the best way I can."

For his persistence, Cooper has been cast as a villain in Eufaula.

"I have heard that," he said. "But I wouldn't know. I don't read Facebook."

Unlike some of his ALDOT predecessors, Cooper is not an engineer nor a career transportation department employee. He's an accountant and a retired CEO whom Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley appointed in 2011.

And he is acting with the full support of Bentley.

Doug Purcell, retired executive director of the Historic Chattahoochee Commission, has been at the forefront of the campaign against ALDOT. He has gotten to know Cooper through a series of meetings.

"He's very task-oriented," Purcell said. "He paints everything in black and white -- the way an accountant thinks."

To his credit, Cooper has not tackled this from the comfort of a bubble. He has gotten his hands dirty.

"I know he has spent 5, 10, 15 minutes on the phone with 10 or more people," Purcell said. "That is impressive to me. But he has never wavered."

Cooper has certainly stood his ground in the face of the opposition. The fact that he has not hidden in a Montgomery office should be impressive to people on all sides of this issue.

He met with about 500 Eufaula residents last month and took their best shots. Almost everyone who spoke -- and it went on for more than two hours -- was against it.

When it was over, Cooper went back to the capitol and continued to fast-track the project, awarding a $1.3 million bid to Midsouth Paving of Birmingham. Midsouth was the lone bidder and it came in significantly higher than the $600,000 to $800,000 ALDOT projected. You can call that a cost adjustment for the pains associated with this controversial project.

The contractor will have to work with an arborist throughout the project to assure the trees are not damaged.

"That is a significant concession," Cooper said. "Not many of our projects require the contractor to work with an arborist."

ALDOT conducted an opinion poll and it shows that 74 percent of the people in Eufaula favor the project. The opposition claims the poll, which was done prior to the public hearing, was slanted to get a favorable result.

"If you put this to a vote in Eufaula, the project would pass," Cooper said.

Purcell counters, "Then why was almost everyone at that public hearing opposed to it?"

The people of Eufaula have been unable to stall Cooper. It is now in the hands of a federal judge, one of the few people in the state who can trump Cooper's authority.

Last week, Cooper was ready to start carving away at the median, taking 3 feet off each side.

"We can do this with minimal intrusion and minimal-if-any damage," Cooper said. "I have worked hard to understand this situation. And I think I do."

Looks like we are about to find out.

Chuck Williams, senior reporter, chwilliams@ledger-enquirer.com.

This story was originally published December 15, 2014 at 6:18 PM with the headline "Chuck Williams: Asking what's best for Eufaula."