Lt. Governor Will Ainsworth on Wednesday released a statement supporting the Eastern Shore Metropolitan Planning Organization’s (MPO) vote to effectively kill the I-10 Mobile River Bridge and Bayway toll project.

A release from Ainsworth’s office explicitly stated the toll project “was proposed and promoted by Alabama Department of Transportation Director John Cooper.”

Ainsworth is one of nine statutory members of the Alabama Toll Road, Bridge, and Tunnel Authority, and recently announced his opposition to the toll project.

“Daphne Mayor Dane Haygood and the members of the Eastern Shore MPO should be commended for listening to the citizens they represent, giving voice to their concerns, and voting to end the ill-conceived and fatally-flawed toll bridge project connecting Baldwin and Mobile counties,” the lieutenant governor said to begin his Wednesday statement.

“The strong stand taken by the MPO today should reaffirm all citzens’ belief in representative government and the power of public opinion,” Ainsworth added.

Ainsworth also indicated that a no-toll bridge proposal is still needed.

“The fact remains, however, that Alabama’s Gulf Coast region is experiencing explosive population growth, and traffic congestion throughout the area will only worsen with time,” he concluded. “I urge Director Cooper and his ALDOT staff to go back to the drawing board and come back with a more sensible and scaled down bridge proposal that releases traffic pressure without the need for tolling the hardworking residents of our state.”

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Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn