Counties approve I-10 Mobile River bridge plan with tolls

DAPHNE – A new proposal for the Mobile Bay Interstate 10 bridge could complete the structure in five years instead of 25 years as suggested in a previous plan, but would include a toll, officials in Baldwin and Mobile counties said.
The Eastern Shore Metropolitan Planning Organization voted unanimously Wednesday, Dec. 15, to endorse a plan that would call for the bridge to be built in one phase over the next five years instead of three phases taking a total of 25 years. The Mobile MPO also unanimously endorsed the same proposal.
"This framework means we'll see a new Bayway and interchanges within five years, not 25 years down the line as it was in the previous plan," Jack Burrell, chairman of the Eastern Shore MPO, said.
He said the plan will include toll-free options for drivers crossing Mobile Bay.
"The Causeway, the Wallace Tunnel, the Bankhead Tunnel and the Africatown Bridge will remain a free option," Burrell said.

Under the plan, cars crossing the new I-10 bridge would pay a toll of $2 to $2.50. Trucks would pay a higher charge. The tolls would be removed when the cost of the bridge is paid. In an earlier proposal, the Alabama Department of Transportation had said tolls could be as much as $6.
The total cost of the project was estimated at $2.1 billion in 2019, according to reports from previous MPO meetings. About 35,000 vehicles crossed the Bayway each day when it opened about 50 years ago. Today the total is about 100,000.
Members of the Eastern Shore MPO said that while they did not like the idea of a toll, the charge would mean that the bridge would be built much sooner than the three-phase plan.
Fairhope Mayor Sherry Sullivan said she supported the proposal.
"I like this plan that we have in place," Sullivan said. "I think it's really important that we do not phase this bridge. We know that could take a whole lot longer. I think all of us have known all along that there was the possibility of a small toll. Of course, none of us want tolls. We know that there are toll bridges all across the country and it's not something that we want to see right here on our back door, but if that's what it takes to get this bridge built, I think it's that important."
Spanish Fort Mayor Mike McMillan also voted for the plan, but said any action taken on highway construction across Mobile Bay should also include improvements on the Causeway.
"It does not touch on the needs for Causeway improvements that have to happen for this project to go forward," McMillan said. "Can you imagine construction up there on the new Bayway and you know what's going to happen; they're going to jump off on the Causeway. We've got to do something to improve that flow."
Daphne Mayor Robin LeJeune said officials will still work to get more federal and state funding to reduce the amount needed to be paid by tolls.
"This is not the end of this," LeJeune said. "We're going to continue to fight for funding to get this done without tolls. Just because we have this framework, we're moving this project forward does not mean that everyone is not working hard, especially now with the federal government's infrastructure bill and things of that nature. We're going to be going up and working hard trying to get some funding to make this happen without tolls, but we can't stand around and wait any more. We have to move forward."
County Commissioner Joe Davis said the toll will mean that drivers from outside the region will help pay the cost of the bridge and that local commuters will have free options.
"I want people going from Pensacola to Houston to help pay for it," Davis said.
After the Mobile MPO voted later in the day to endorse the plan, Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson said the proposal shows that officials on both sides of Mobile Bay are working together to solve the problem.
"If you, over the holidays are driving across the Bayway or the Causeway and are caught up in congestion, just know that we are moving this process forward so that we can solve the congestion problem and it will be a shorter timeframe than the 25 years that's been most recently talked about," Stimpson said.