At the 2023 Alabama Republican Party summer dinner, Donald Trump pledged that if he won his third bid for the White House, one of his first orders of business would be to widen Interstate 65 from Huntsville to Mobile.
Back in November, Trump was reelected to the Oval Office.
During an appearance on Alabama Public Television's "Capitol Journal," Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth was asked about Trump's 2023 remarks about widening the state's primary north-south thoroughfare.
"Yeah, so first, definitely the goal is to get [Interstate] 65 six-lane," he said. "[I] appreciate the governor's leadership in already starting that process to do that throughout the state in some of the more congested areas. We got to continue from the way we're saying it now, from Tennessee to the Gulf of America, right? We want to get that done. You better believe we're going to talk to the president about that and just explain to him the need and why it's important and certainly remind him of his promise he made, and there's no doubt that I think that'll be a priority for him and his administration, and we're letting him get in, get his feet set. But then, I certainly plan on going to D.C. and having that conversation.”
Ainsworth also said he did not see the Interstate 10 Mobile River Bridge and Bayway as competing with the Interstate 65 widening.
"[I] mean the bridge project — I was pushing for before we got that done," he added. 'We have to get that done, right? And then I think 65 is another project — 65, you know, everybody needs to understand that's going to probably be at least a 10-year project, right? And it's going to the great thing about that is it's an 80-20 federal match. So we put 20% of the money, the feds put up 80%. So that's huge, right? When we're looking at dollars put out. But I think you spread that out over, you know, a realistic time period of probably like 10 years and we can get that accomplished. And like I said, we've already started. And I think with the president's help, we can expedite that."
Jeff Poor is the editor in chief of 1819 News and host of "The Jeff Poor Show," heard Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-noon on Mobile's FM Talk 106.5. To connect or comment, email jeff.poor@1819News.com or follow him on Twitter @jeff_poor.
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