Gulf Shores is looking to move ahead with surveys of a proposed rerouting of State Route 180 from its current layout along the Intracoastal Waterway and through the Gulf Pines subdivision to a new road south of the neighborhood.

Plans for the new roadway have been discussed since the city was approved for a $14.4 million BUILD grant in 2019 to help with the construction of the new pedestrian bridge and plaza at the intersection of East Second Street and State Route 180. Officials are hoping to open the new bridge this spring.

Gulf Shores discussed paying Sawgrass Consulting $39,500 for a survey of the right-of-way for the bypass road during an Oct. 5 council work session. Council will vote on the item at its Oct. 12 regular council meeting.

While the survey is a small step forward, there are still no concrete plans for the actual roadway.

“We don’t have plans or funds yet to build the road, but we’ve got the road to be built,” Mayor Robert Craft said. “We were trying to create a reroute. That took several years to get that, but we have that. It’s well understood here that that’s an expensive road to build, and we couldn’t do anything until we got the right-of-way.”

Assistant City Administrator and Community Development Director Lee Jones said state money for the bypass could become available when and if traffic volumes increase to certain levels to trigger action from the state to make improvements.

“If it’s warranted,” Jones told council at the Oct. 5 session. “Any state road, whether it has a signal or an intersection or widening, is all based on warrant. Once it’s warranted, once the traffic demand warrants a new roadway to be built, then that’s when the state will consider it.”

Craft says he has already made contacts with what he sees as the future state administration once the governor’s race is over and new department heads are in place.

“We’ve got a new transportation director, and we’ve got a new governor, and any discussions that I’ve had directly with the new folks coming in, particularly with Coach Tuberville one-on-one, he understands the problem,” Craft said. “That’s not a commitment, but we had no commitment, no favorable discussion like this with the outgoing administration. We’ve got different folks coming in and a different story to tell, and we now have the right of way in place.”

Craft and other city officials have always favored a two-way traffic pattern on the new ALDOT bridge between the State Route 59 bridge in Gulf Shores and the former toll bridge in Orange Beach. It opened and now operates as a southbound-only bridge, but Craft believes changing it to north-south could increase traffic through Gulf Pines and hopefully reach the traffic threshold needed for the state to pay for the bypass.

“Eventually, I believe, the 161 reroute and the new bridge that’s one way will eventually become two ways, hopefully sooner rather than later,” Craft said. “It will become an evacuation route or a daily get-off-the-island route in addition to 59. If that happens, it’s going to get busier and busier and that will give us the opportunity to work with the state to get this road built and provide back to the citizens who live in Gulf Pines not to have to deal with that traffic. That’s what we started, and this is the finished part of that as we put ourselves in position to make that happen.”

Moving the roadway south of the neighborhood instead of the current route next to popular Meyer Park would increase safety in the area, city officials say. A portion of the new road will cross former Gulf State Park property acquired from the state in a land swap that took years to complete.

“Over the last few years, the city has worked to exchange certain properties with the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR) as part of its long-term transportation planning efforts,” a memo from Assistant City Administrator Lee Jones states. “The city council approved a transfer of 30.19 acres of undeveloped land from Gulf State Park to the city.”

The bypass would start east of the Gulf Shores wastewater treatment plant on Canal Road, running between the plant and the former golf course at Gulf State Park and eventually connecting to East Second Street south of East 20th Avenue and north of East 16th Avenue.

The city gave up more than 53 acres including 24 acres north of Waterville USA water park and 25 acres north of East Second Avenue and west of Wade Ward Park. The state park will give up more than 30 acres in two parcels, one on Canal Road east of the wastewater treatment plant and a second south of East 21st Avenue.

During the work session, council also discussed:

Adding the position of assistant manager of operations who “supports effective operations, service delivery, strategic priorities and organization goals” and directly reporting to City Administrator Jon Walker. Also, the city is looking to add a senior management analyst. The city is considering spending $28,000 on recruitment for the new positions in 2026 and a projected ongoing personnel cost of $310,000. Once hired, the manager of operations would make about $145,000 and the analyst $85,000;

Changing text in the zoning amendment to allow more than one home occupation license per residence. In its Sept. 22 meeting, Gulf Shores Planning Commission gave a favorable recommendation to the change;

Entering into a contract with Park Loyalty for “beachfront parking enforcement, parking ticket collection, and exempt plate registration for residents and property owners.” The three-year contract will be for $102,600;

Authorizing a contract with McElhenny Construction for $1.5 million for the 2026 streets resurfacing program; and

A contract with PV Publications to create a second edition of the city’s book “Gulf Shores: Small Town, Big Beach, the Next Wave.” If passed by the council, officials hope to have the book in hand for the 2027 Shrimp Festival.