"There's no doubt in my mind that without the roundabouts there, we would have already had a fatality at this intersection." Hayden Police Chief James Chapman gave that assessment of the triple roundabout at I-65 Exit 284, and ALDOT included it in its August 28, 2026 announcement that the project had won a regional America's Transportation Award.
If you drive into or out of Hayden on State Route 160, you go through that interchange almost every day. Seventeen months after it opened, the gap is clear. The interchange used to be the stretch of 160 with the most trouble. Now it has the best record of any part of the road, and ALDOT has no funded work listed for the miles east of it.
What changed at the bottom of the hill
Before construction, Exit 284 had a known problem. In 2020 through 2022, ALDOT counted 56 wrecks on that short section of SR-160, and eight of them involved injuries. ALDOT's News Hub reported in September 2025 that Chief Chapman's department had its own count from that period. "I think that we counted an average of 20-30 accidents per year at that location, and that was just Hayden, not the State or County," he said.
The old configuration made it easy for drivers to end up headed the wrong way on the interstate ramps. ALDOT says the redesign was meant to cut those wrong-way wrecks. WestBlount.com's coverage of the award describes the crash history as including "a pattern of wrong-way entries onto the interstate ramps." Two of the new circles handle the northbound and southbound I-65 ramps. The third ties in U.S. 31.
Here is the interchange before and after, using the figures ALDOT and Hayden police have released:
| Before the roundabouts | After the roundabouts | |
|---|---|---|
| Crash count | 56 crashes in 2020–2022 | Crashes per month down 50% by end of 2025 |
| Injury crashes | 8 in that three-year window | None in the project area through end of 2025 |
| Hayden PD's view | 20–30 wrecks a year at the location | "Maybe one every two or three weeks" |
Chapman also told ALDOT the change gave his officers more time to patrol Hayden, since they spend less time responding to wrecks at the exit.
ALDOT's award release puts the project at $8.6 million. Sain Associates designed it, Vulcan Materials Asphalt and Construction was the prime contractor, and Neel-Schaffer consulted. The recognition came from the Southern Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, in the Small Project, Safety category. It is ALDOT's first America's Transportation Award, and the project was one of 12 regional winners chosen from 34 entries across 11 states. An earlier ALDOT article from 2025 described an $11.34 million contract awarded in summer 2023, so the two figures don't match.
The other 18 miles
The roundabouts are at one end of a much longer road. State Route 160 runs 18.4 miles from U.S. 31 near Smoke Rise and Exit 284, through Hayden, Mount Olive, Sugar Creek and Nectar, to U.S. 231 in Cleveland. It is the only state highway that lies entirely inside Blount County, and it was a county road until 1971.
WestBlount.com's September 29 report describes most of the road as two lanes with narrow shoulders or none. Hills limit how far ahead drivers can see, and several stretches have steep drop-offs. That same road carries traffic for a growing corridor and the Hayden school campuses. The report also points out that the roundabouts cover less than half a mile of it.
Late September showed what that means for a commute. On Friday, September 25, a two-vehicle crash near the 3 mile marker, close to Chaly Springs Road and Stan Holton Drive, stopped traffic and backed it up past Mountain Woods Lake Road. The next evening, a crash near the 11 mile marker east of Hayden closed all lanes. ALEA said the road would be blocked "for an undetermined amount of time." On most of 160 there is no alternate route around a closure, and drivers sitting in that backup were turning around.
ALDOT's work on the rest of the corridor so far is a list of smaller fixes. In a statement reported by WestBlount.com, the department said it has built turn lanes in front of the school campuses, put guardrails along steep shoulders and resurfaced a 10-mile section.
Why the exit got fixed first
The history of 160 explains why the interchange got done and the corridor didn't. A widening has been promised more than once. In April 2006, then-Gov. Bob Riley promised to fast-track work on the highway, including widening it to four lanes. In October 2010, ALDOT showed residents plans for four lanes with a center turn lane from I-65 to past the elementary school. That plan would have displaced about 30 homeowners. Right-of-way purchases were expected to start in early 2011, but the widening was never built.
The roundabout project was much smaller in scope. It covered one interchange with a well-documented crash pattern. ALDOT had been studying wrong-way wreck designs at 37 intersections like Exit 284 since 2014. When the department held a public involvement meeting on the design, nearly a third of residents who attended commented on the three-roundabout option. ALDOT chose that plan, and by May 2025 it was open to traffic.
A four-lane widening means buying right-of-way along miles of hilly road and relocating homes. A redesigned interchange stays within one footprint. The Exit 284 project solved a contained problem with a contained fix, and the crash numbers since then show it worked.
Driving the circles the way they were designed
The roundabouts depend on drivers using them correctly. Chief Chapman has said that some drivers still struggle with them. "There is always the occasional driver that goes the wrong way around or someone who doesn't read the directions or signs that are clearly posted or the failure to yield," he told ALDOT's News Hub. "But for the most part, it operates efficiently."
ALDOT's general roundabout guidance comes down to six habits:
- Slow down as you approach.
- Yield to traffic already in the circle, coming from your left.
- Enter only when there's a clear gap.
- Keep a steady pace once you're in.
- Signal before you exit.
- Cross on foot only at the crosswalks, which are set back from the circle.
At Exit 284, drivers often go through two circles in a row. Being in the right lane and signaling early is what keeps traffic moving at the ramps.
What to watch on 160 next
The funding list. ALDOT's Statewide Transportation Improvement Program for Blount County lists funded projects through fiscal 2027. It includes work on I-65, U.S. 31, U.S. 231, Alabama 79 and U.S. 278. It has no projects on Highway 160. ALDOT's statement says only that it "remains committed to exploring other fundable safety upgrades to SR-160 in the future."
Local officials. Blount County Commissioner Allen Armstrong told CBS 42 that the corridor's growth will eventually force a decision. "At some point, ALDOT is going to have to make a decision to do something besides just leave it at the two-lane road, and I'm willing to do whatever we can ask for," he said. State Rep. David Standridge also said he will keep advocating for improvements. After the September crashes, local safety advocates renewed calls for a published timeline for completing the work.
A new sign on I-65. In August, WestBlount.com reported that crews were installing poles, traffic cameras and a dynamic message sign on northbound I-65 between Exits 284 and 287. The equipment will send real-time conditions to ALGO, ALDOT's traffic information system. As of that report, ALDOT had not announced when the sign would go live.
The national award. The roundabout's run in the America's Transportation Awards ended at the regional level. The national Top 12 finalists AASHTO announced September 11, 2026 come from 12 other states, and Alabama isn't one of them. The Grand Prize and People's Choice winners will be announced at AASHTO's annual meeting in Louisville, which runs November 15 through 18.
For now, the interchange is the part of 160 with an award and a measured drop in crashes. The 18 miles east of it have resurfacing, guardrails and turn lanes, and no funded project on ALDOT's list through fiscal 2027.
At Adam Ray, we pay attention to the roads our Hayden clients drive every day, and Highway 160 matters to a lot of them. If you're thinking about a move along the 160 corridor and want an honest talk about how the drive fits your daily routine, schedule a consultation and we'll go over it together.
