Alabama Lt. Governor Will Ainsworth is a longtime critic of the Alabama Department of Transportation, and in particular, a project to create a continuous four-lane route between Mobile and Tuscaloosa.
That project, known as the West Alabama Corridor, is a much different direction than Ainsworth’s trademark idea to widen Interstate 65 from the Tennessee border all the way down to the beach.
Earlier this month, Alabama completed a roughly $730 million bond sale to finance construction of that West Alabama Corridor. Ainsworth argues the state is getting a terrible deal from it.
“Spending $750 million state dollars on the West Alabama Corridor with ZERO federal match is the biggest abuse of taxpayer funding in Alabama history,” Ainsworth posted on Thursday.
“ALDOT Director John Cooper should be embarrassed. When your local potholes, roads, and bridges can’t be repaired for lack of funding, blame this massive boondoggle.
Ainsworth and some lawmakers have pointed out that unlike most state road projects, which typically receive about 80% federal funding with a 20% state match, the West Alabama Corridor is being financed without any federal dollars at all, entirely with state gas tax revenue and bonds backed by Rebuild Alabama funds.
He and other skeptics say the lack of federal participation diverts too much of Alabama’s Rebuild Alabama gas-tax revenue away from basic maintenance and higher-priority statewide congestion relief.
Governor Kay Ivey and local leaders in the region have repeatedly supported the project as both a transportation improvement priority and an economic development initiative.
On Thursday afternoon, ALDOT responded in a statement to Yellowhammer News from spokesman Tony Harris, pushing back on the idea that Rebuild Alabama funds are being misused or that additional federal matching dollars were available.
“Thanks to the Rebuild Alabama Act, ALDOT funds are going further than ever. All available federal funds are being matched with traditional state funds on projects across Alabama. Rebuild funds are being invested in other projects to stimulate economic development in underserved areas and to reduce congestion. If the state could use Rebuild funds to draw down additional federal dollars, we would be doing it left and right but that’s not how the federal program works.”
The department has also historically noted that federal highway funds are not unlimited.
According to the ALDOT, Rebuild Alabama’s structure allows borrowing against future gas tax revenue to build major projects like the West Alabama Corridor, but that spending state dollars does not automatically unlock extra federal aid.
Either way, with financing now secured through the $730 million bond sale, the state is full speed ahead with the project.
In terms of both cost and scale, it will be the state’s largest highway investments in decades.
Grayson Everett is the editor in chief of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on X @Grayson270.
