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City officials said Wednesday the state has awarded Russellville a $977,000 grant for road work on Lawrence Street, which runs in front of the Innovative Hearth Products plant.

The grant will enable the city to install a left turning lane in front of the plant, a right turning lane and a red light at the intersection of Lawrence Street and Alabama 24. The road will also be expanded to add a left turning lane onto Alabama 24 with the signal.

The grant is intended to help traffic flow more smoothly with the expansion of Innovative Hearth Products. The company plans to add 245 new jobs by May 2014. It currently employs 55 people.

“It’s a big deal for everybody because it’s a heavily traveled little street,” said David Palmer, engineer of the Franklin County Highway Department. “With the expansion, it’s going to not only add more employee traffic, but truck traffic as well. It was a necessity to make some improvements to the road.

“IHP plans to have the expansion complete in May, so we hope to have plans in place for the expansion soon and work under the same time frame.”

Palmer said the expansion project funding is in addition to the Alabama Transportation Rehabilitation Program funding of nearly $12 million.

“We’ve been blessed beyond our wildest imagination,” Palmer said. “There have been a lot of people working together to get this to happen. There has been a lot of prayer in this and it’s nothing but a blessing.”

Mayor David Grissom agreed that the road work on Lawrence Street is an important project to begin.

“It’s exciting because it’s a two-lane road in front of the plant that is going to be seeing significantly more traffic,” Grissom said. “There’s also an apartment complex being built, so it’s going to be a real benefit to the people.

“We were lucky to get our application in as quickly as we did, and everyone at the state has been willing to help.”

Mitch Mays, executive director of the Franklin County Development Authority, said the project is critical in expanding the city’s highway infrastructure.

“It’s very important not just because of traffic flow, but also for safety,” Mays said.

Mays said the grant was secured working with the Industrial Access Road Committee, along with help from Alabama Department of Transportation Director John Cooper and Gov. Robert Bentley.

“The red light at the intersection of Highway 24 will be important as well,” he said. “We just ask for everyone to be patient with us as these improvements are made.”

State. Sen. Roger Bedford, D-Russellville, said the project is an example of the city, county and state working together.

“It’s a very important project, not just for the plant expansion but for the ballpark located right next to it and parents getting there safe with their children,” Bedford said. “It was a critical component to getting the expansion at the plant and I seriously want to thank Gov. Bentley for helping us get this project.”

International Hearth Products produces indoor and outdoor fireplaces, fireplace inserts, free-standing stoves, gas log sets and fireplace accessories. The company is expanding its current operations by 210,000 feet and will make Russellville the center of technical and customer service, as well as the main distributor of fireplaces for the eastern portion of the United States.