One issue was crystal clear after Thursday’s congressional district 2 debate: Republican Caroleene Dobson has a plan to fund the new I-10 bridge without a toll charge, while Democrat Shomari Figures does not.
“The Bridge and Bayway Project is so vitally important for families on both sides of the bay,” Dobson said during the debate, “and I will fight for funding to make sure there is no toll component for the bridge to ensure that the hard-working families in Baldwin County and Mobile County and families traveling on I-10 are not subject to double taxation through a toll system.”
When citizens of South Alabama rose up and defeated the ALDOT toll plan in 2019, there was only a handful of political officials who got the key point – double taxation. Alabama taxpayers have already paid dearly for transportation needs through their federal and state taxes. Other projects in the state have been funded with no tolls, including the North Jefferson I-65 beltway and the West Alabama Highway 43 four-lane. Singling out the I-10 Bayway for toll infliction hits the people twice when funds are already available to pay for the bridge. Dobson gets that point and made it a specific issue in the congressional debate.
Could the toll issue become South Alabama’s “October surprise?” Will those 55,000 citizens who quickly organized in 2019 and convinced the Metropolitan Planning Organization to remove the toll rise again and become the difference in the Nov. 5 race in the new congressional district? The race is extremely close, so a motivated single-issue constituency of this size could be the winning margin.
The next congressional member from AL-2 could be, and should be, the leader in cobbling together funds to pay for the I-10 bridge without tolls. There are billions in federal infrastructure funds currently available to be spent somewhere. With the I-10 bridge being a federal interstate from Los Angeles to Jacksonville, Fla., will an Alabama congressional member put priority on directing the already-available funds to this interstate project?
In my mind, congressional candidate Caroleene Dobson is the obvious person for that vital role.
Jim Zeigler led the 2019 citizen movement which blocked the toll plan on I-10. He is a retired Alabama State Auditor and Public Service Commissioner.
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