GULF SHORES — Memorial Day traffic could take a big shift on Alabama’s Gulf Coast if the Alabama Department of Transportation’s (ALDOT) plans come to fruition.
ALDOT hopes to open the new Intracoastal Waterway Bridge (ICW Bridge) on or before Memorial Day, weather permitting.
Ike Scott, with Scott Bridge Company (SBC), said paving and final touches must be completed before the bridge can open. That’s why he said the opening date depends on the weather.
“The bridge looks great,” said Scott. “Our guys did a tremendous job, very proud of our team. It was done safely, and those bridges are difficult to build. They are made of structural steel. I'm really proud of the effort that Scott Bridge Company made, which is what we always try to do.”
The southbound, two-lane bridge spanning the ICW will put traffic onto the Gulf Shores island. The former toll bridge near The Wharf in Orange Beach will become northbound-only, leading traffic off the island.
The ALDOT communications and public relations coordinator, James Gordon, said the changes will double the number of travel lanes across the ICW. A roundabout at the bottom of the new bridge will allow traffic to travel east and west.
“The plan is to move more traffic, more efficiently, increasing the capacity when you have two lanes headed south, two lanes headed north,” Gordon told 1819 News.
The original plan was to have the bridge open by the end of 2025. However, Scott said the plan was shattered when a lawsuit was filed by the former toll bridge owner, Baldwin County Bridge Company (BCBC), against ALDOT. There was a delay of more than six months.
“All the time that we lost, including the time the following winter when we had to work in far less than ideal conditions, cold and rainy, when we could have been working the previous summer in one of the driest summers we'd ever had in 2023,” Scott said.
The ALDOT acquired the BCBC bridge, but Scott said it cost his company millions, and that amount still hasn’t been reimbursed. The company has completed the claims process and is awaiting a response to the appeal.
Meanwhile, Scott said he appreciates the work of Gulf Shores Mayor Robert Craft and Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon for working with the company to keep his workers safe.
“They're outstanding,” Scott said. “The law enforcement and traffic divisions have been tremendous help to us in working with the traffic, especially on Canal Road and the Marine Police, both local and the state Marine police, have helped us with the Intracoastal traffic and pleasure boaters, because setting the structural steel and all that is a very dangerous work.”
A new pedestrian bridge in Gulf Shores and a third southbound lane will be added to Highway 59. Gordon said ALDOT worked closely with the City of Gulf Shores on the traffic pattern.
“Gulf Shores in particular, because their goal there, the mayor and the council wanted to get traffic off of 59, and when the state bought the former toll bridge, we saw that shift,” Gordon explained. “We saw that now there were more vehicles traveling on the Beach Express and the thought process there was that we took those vehicles off of 59. So that was the city's request, and that's what was accomplished there.”
Some final construction will continue after the bridge opens, but Gordon said it should not impede traffic.
The ALDOT has also worked with Orange Beach on widening roadways around the soon-to-be northbound bridge.
The $52 million project is paired with a connector road to designated as Alabama State Highway 161 to help reduce congestion to Baldwin County beaches. It will also improve access for emergency responders, enhance hurricane evacuation capacity and support economic growth, ALDOT said.
A portion of Alabama State Highway 180 approaching the northbound bridge will be widened to improve traffic flow. The bid for that project will go out in the coming months, with construction expected to begin after Labor Day.
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