Last week, Fairhope City Councilman Jack Burrell and Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson, the respective chairmen for the Eastern Shore and Mobile Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs), presented a new framework for a long-sought new I-10 Mobile River Bridge and Bayway.
The proposal comes as an election cycle is on the verge of heating up, but a timing necessary as a $125 million U.S. Department of Transportation grant could soon expire.
Among the candidates participating in the 2022 election is former Business Council of Alabama head Katie Britt. She said she was encouraged by the work of both MPOs and remained “committed” to no tolls during an interview with Mobile radio FM Talk 106.5’s “The Jeff Poor Show” on Friday.
“I have been consistently saying local leaders know best, and we need local solutions to problems,” she said. “We don’t need to allow the state or the federal government to dictate to us what we need to do. So I am incredibly encouraged that both leaders from Mobile County and Baldwin County are at the table and figuring this out for the residents of Baldwin and Mobile [Counties].”
“I am encouraged there are free routes,” Britt continued. “Of course, I have been and remain committed to no tolls and will certainly work as your next United States Senator to find funding from all over to meet the needs of this project. I think doing nothing is not an option here. We have a critical need in infrastructure, both for the residents there to be able to make these commutes and move safely across the Bayway. But also, there is most definitely a federal nexus when you can’t get from Disney World to Texas without coming right through Mobile. This is even larger in scale there. Certainly look forward to digging into that and seeing where it goes next.”
Britt reiterated her commitment to no tolls but admitted she had not had an opportunity to consider the details of the proposal.
“I hope both Baldwin and Mobile County residents — I don’t think that that’s anything that they need to be paying,” she added. “And so I think they’ll probably continue in this dialogue. I am encouraged by the free routes but haven’t had time to fully dive into it but remain committed to, have been and will be, committed to no tolls, and looking to find those revenue streams to make sure the hard-working residents of those counties are not impacted by this, and that we get an efficient solution as soon as possible. And I’m encouraged by the local leaders working together to talk through this.”
“And like I said, I certainly look forward to digging into it,” Britt continued. “I have been on the road. I have not fully dug into it but do look forward to that in the future.”
@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Alabama, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly, and host of Mobile’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. on FM Talk 106.5.
