GULF SHORES — Gulf Shores Mayor Robert Craft said there is no question that a new bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) is helping get drivers into Gulf Shores. However, he is disappointed in a last-minute change that is making it more difficult to get off the island.
"I think the new bridge is important," Craft said. "It's going to help this community a lot and if we can just get some logical understanding of how's the best way to get people off the island."
Drivers are using the one-way, southbound bridge to travel between the Beach Express, Gulf Shores, Orange Beach and Fort Morgan. The northbound routes are the State Highway 59 (SR 59) bridge and the former toll bridge near The Wharf in Orange Beach, which has been converted into a one-way, northbound bridge.
The traffic pattern was designed to improve traffic flow through the area and reduce congestion during busy beach travel seasons. However, since the full traffic pattern was implemented more than a month ago, Craft said it hasn't worked.
"I think it's going about as I expected and as everybody expected from a standpoint of inbound traffic," Craft said. "We are still struggling with the entire western two-thirds or three-fourths of this island with only one way off. We could drive to Orange Beach to get out of here, but people aren't doing it."
A preliminary origin-destination study shows the majority of drivers are leaving Gulf Shores, Fort Morgan and the western part of Orange Beach via SR 59.
"Those are just facts," Craft said. "Now, everybody has the opportunity to go past 59 and go down and get in line at The Wharf. But I don't know that anyone's going to risk the unknown. There's no way to know if it's any better down there or not. But that is an option. But I don't know how many people are actually doing that, if any."
Craft said the new bridge would have worked much better if the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) had gone with the original two-way traffic bridge design.
"The minute that Director [John] Cooper and ALDOT decided they wanted to do the one-way stuff, we were in opposition, but it didn't matter," Craft told 1819 News. "Director Cooper was in charge, and he did it like he felt it should be done."
The City is working on a plan to ease traffic woes, but it will take a new governor and new ALDOT leadership to make that plan a reality. After obtaining accurate traffic measurements, Craft said the City will be able to present the numbers to new leadership, hopefully leading to the conversion of the new bridge to a two-way bridge and the construction of a new road connecting to it. Gulf Shores has already finalized plans to obtain a right-of-way through Gulf State Park if that happens.
As for hurricane evacuations, Craft said he isn't concerned because people will still have two ways off the island as long as the governor declares a mandatory evacuation. He said the new bridge and the SR 59 bridge can be temporarily used for northbound traffic only.
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