According to a report last week, efforts were underway for the Eastern Shore Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) to put a new I-10 Mobile Bay Bridge proposal back on its Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) after being removed in 2019 to prevent the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) from proceeding with a controversial toll bridge proposal.
Under ALDOT’s public-private partnership plan, backed by Gov. Kay Ivey, travelers across the bridge that would have connected Mobile and Baldwin Counties would have paid $6 each way.
State Sen. Chris Elliott (R-Daphne), whose district is adjacent to the proposed project’s site, expressed his shock the proposal was back on the table during an appearance on Mobile radio FM Talk 106.5’s “Midday Mobile.” He also signaled his distrust of Ivey and ALDOT Director John Cooper for the way they had proceeded in the past.
“[I] was a little bit taken aback that was even being brought up again — not because the project is not needed, that is for sure,” he said, “not because we don’t need to figure out a way to move people and commerce back and forth and back and forth across the region a whole lot easier and more efficiently. But just because of the manner in which this was handled by the governor and her administration. But I just cannot believe it is even being seriously discussed again.”
Elliott argued the Eastern Shore MPO’s decision to take it out of the TIP was the “last line of defense” for residents and elected officials that opposed the project. He said given that the Ivey administration was willing to proceed despite residents’ wishes, he was not interested in discussing the project until there was a new governor and ALDOT director.
“[T]o be clear — what has happened, the news is this will be going back on the Eastern Shore MPO’s visionary list,” Elliott said. “That puts it back into the MPO’s plan for consideration once a planning source has been identified. And their caveat is the funding source has not yet been identified. Of course, that is where we got hung up last time. But I’m going to tell you — the bigger issue here is not the funding source. It is not the need of the bridge. It is that the MPO, the Eastern Shore MPO specifically, was the last line of defense to keep this from happening. As the former chairman of the MPO, I know that all too well. That was how it got stopped. This governor and this ALDOT director were more than happy to proceed with a funding scheme and mechanism that was completely unfair for residents of coastal Alabama, that was objected to by every elected official I know of. And yet, they were perfectly willing to proceed with it.”
“So, I would say the issue with this project is not necessarily the need for it or even the funding mechanism for it — although that is obviously a problem if it involves a toll,” he continued. “But rather — it is an issue of trust with this administration, with this ALDOT director. That, if you will forgive the pun, that bridge is burned. It has not been rebuilt, and I doubt that it will be.”
“I am not interested in discussing this bridge or a Bayway proposal at all until we have a new governor and a new ALDOT director,” Elliott added.
@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.
