I-20 work on Coosa River bridge to cause major traffic delays next week. Here is how to avoid it.

Traveling back to Birmingham from Atlanta, Oxford or Talladega on I-20 next week? Expect some delays. 

The Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) is closing a lane on the I-20 westbound bridge over the Coosa River in Riverside starting at 9:00AM on Thursday, October 2, 2025.

Traffic on the bridge will be limited to a single lane for up to seven days.

Bridge maintenance work needed

According to ALDOT the bridge needs to perform immediate maintenance on the bridge.

A major transportation route to the Magic City, this particular bridge, has increased in traffic ten-fold since opening in 1963. As many as 10,000 trucks cross the structures in each direction every day.

In addition to the maintenance work in early October, ALDOT is in the midst of designing a replacement for the I-20 bridge.

ALDOT alternative: A way around

ALDOT has set up a way around the construction. Here are bullet points describing the alternative route::

• Westbound passenger cars and truck loads wider than ten feet should utilize US-78 W at Exit 165 (Honda Drive) as an alternate free-flowing route around the construction site
• Engineers will install temporary traffic controls at the Honda Drive intersection with US-78 to provide northbound vehicles uninterrupted left and right turns onto US-78.
• This temporary alteration will not allow Honda Drive traffic to cross US-78 in either direction.
• The US-78 bridge over the Coosa River will be converted into a single-lane one-way path to efficiently carry travelers to I-20 WB at Exit 162 in Riverside. (See attached map graphic)
• This will force any I-20 EB drivers accustomed to taking the US-78 bridge into Lincoln to use Exit 168 instead

Updates on I-20 and more

Want to stay up to date on I-20 traffic and other routes throughout Alabama? For real-time traffic information, visit ALGOTraffic.com or download the ALGO Traffic app.