FOLEY — Signed, sealed, delivered, it's official. It is now free to get to and off Pleasure Island from any bridge.

Gov. Kay Ivey met local elected officials Wednesday, May 23, at the Foley Civic Center to ceremonially sign paperwork accepting locally owned roadway and right of way assets related to the state's purchase of the Foley Beach Express toll bridge.

Ivey was joined by Foley Mayor Ralph Hellmich, Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon, Gulf Shores Mayor Robert Craft, Baldwin County Commissioner Billie Jo Underwood and Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) Southwest Region Engineer Matt Ericksen.

"Our Gulf Coast continues to experience record growth and success, and I'm proud that we're making immediate infrastructure improvements in the area," Ivey said Wednesday.

Officials all echoed each other in believing the "uninhibited access" to Orange Beach by The Wharf will be good for all residents of Baldwin County and the millions of people who visit our beaches each year.

Underwood said the state taking ownership and maintenance of the roadway will alleviate local funding to use on other capacity and connectivity projects. The commission's ownership and maintenance of 17 of the corridor's 25 miles is "pretty unprecedented for a county commission in the entire state." Using state resources on local roads can "maximize what we do," Foley's Hellmich said.

Gulf Shores' Craft thanked state officials "for recognizing that something had to change. For us to be able to be as good as we've been and offer the kind of experiences to people that we do offer, we had to have some transportation improvements, and this is the ideal solution.

Coming to this point was not without contention, Kennon said, "but it's good to see everyone come together with a consensus and a plan."

The Baldwin County Bridge Company (BCBC), the now former private business owner of the bridge and toll plaza, and ALDOT fought over the construction of a new, toll-free bridge roughly a mile west of the Beach Express along Alabama 181 in Gulf Shores. They took it all the way to the Alabama Supreme Court, which ruled the bridge could be built in August 2023.

After the court's ruling, BCBC increased the toll overnight from $2.75 to $5. Previous reporting by Gulf Coast Media shows 5.58 million cars passed through the bridge in 2022, increasing to 5.67 million in 2023. Orange Beach had been collecting a flat rate of 30 cents per car, leading to a $1.67 million share of the toll in 2022 and $1.7 million in 2023, according to OBA. The $93,193 share taken for the month of December 2023 was Orange Beach's lowest since December 2019 ($88,034).

Kennon said after the ceremony he still would like to see a new bridge built right next to the Beach Express so there would be four lanes of access to Orange Beach, the proposal the City of Orange Beach and BCBC pushed for during the legal process against the state and City of Gulf Shores. Then, they argued to build the new bridge and keep collecting tolls.

Now, he said Wednesday this plan is one he's happy with and that he has heard nothing but positive feedback from residents and business owners.

"I don't think anyone has looked beyond that at what problems we might have with increased traffic, but right now we're just celebrating the toll being gone because it will be good for Orange Beach and specifically good for our businesses. We'll have more people coming across to spend money rather than not," Kennon said.