MONTGOMERY — The Trump administration shaved billions off the price tag of a revised plan for the Mobile River Bridge and Bayway project announced on Thursday by cutting red tape, according to State Sen. Chris Elliott (R-Josephine).
The project is expected to begin by the end of this year, pending approval of a Federal TIFIA (Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act) loan covering 49% of the cost. Plans include a new cable-stayed Mobile River toll bridge, improvements to interchanges and enhancements making the existing Bayway six lanes.
“The big news is the administration really cutting a lot of red tape (like) the requirement to immediately demolish and raze the Bayway, which is what made the cost of this project balloon. That’s what just made it to the point where we could never catch our breath and get ahead of it because it was always going to cost too much money,” Elliott told 1819 News on Thursday. “I think the President’s actions and what Senator Britt and Senator Tuberville were able to work out with the President’s chief of staff and the USDOT director probably shaved $3 billion in costs.”
With an ALGO Pass, the toll would be $3 per trip under the new plan, up from the previously proposed $2.50.
“It’s an increase and I don’t love it, but it’s not an insurmountable increase, certainly given the inflation that we’ve had. You have to think that it’s a tolerable increase for what ALDOT have stated several years ago now was going to be what they’re going to do,” Elliott said. “The important thing is they have absolutely lived up to their word, which was they weren’t going to toll this existing infrastructure: the Causeway, either one of the tunnels, all of that, so there will remain a free route. The other part of it is there will be an unlimited pass for our local commuter traffic that brings the cost down significantly. It’s much more tolerable for those that are going back and forth every single day. What it does do as well is it puts a lot of the costs of this project on the folks that are coming from Mississippi and Louisiana and Florida and Texas and all across the I-10 corridor. It disproportionately and correctly, I think, puts a lot of the costs of this project elsewhere instead of just on locals and certainly just on the state of Alabama.”
He continued, “I think it’s important to talk about additional lanes on I-10 as well. I’m understanding that there will be additional lane widening and additional lanes on I-10 outside of the project boundaries which means beyond Daphne.”
“I think you’ll have additional interstate work on I-10 east of Daphne going into the Malbis area, perhaps beyond that as well. You know those three lanes of traffic that are going to exist on the existing Bayway to three lanes of traffic that are going to exist on the interstate too; you don’t want to create a bottleneck there, and so they’re going to widen that as well,” Elliott added.
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