A proposed $2.7 billion Mobile Bay bridge and Bayway project is back on track.
Three years after intense public opposition killed an earlier and cheaper version of the proposal, the Mobile Metropolitan Planning Organization voted unanimously Wednesday to endorse the. The Eastern Shore MPO was expected to do the same Wednesday, paving the way for construction to start as early as next year.
In 2019, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey and Transportation Director John Cooper pushed a $2.1 billion plan that would have relied on tolls as high as $6 per trip for passenger cars to finance a six-lane bridge over Mobile Bay and the construction of a new Bayway. Hurdles remain, but Wednesday’s vote puts a project that’s been talked about for roughly a quarter-century closer that it’s ever been to the finish line. There are public funding commitments and a set route. By putting the project back in the Transportation Improvement Plans, “the project’s eligibility for federal funding remains intact,” Alabama Department of Transportation spokesman Tony Harris told FOX10 News.
Unlike the 2019 plan, which also would have imposed tolls to use the Wallace Tunnel, the current plan commits to keeping that and the Bankhead tunnels free, along with the Causeway. Drivers traveling west on the Causeway would be able to merge onto Interstate 10 without interference from Bayway traffic, which would be diverted onto the bridge about a mile and a half before reaching the tunnel.$125 million from a grant under the Infrastructure for Rebuilding America program.
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