State Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur) said the biggest obstacle to expanding Interstate 65 throughout Alabama is the lack of funding available to accomplish such a major project.
Earlier this week, Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth pointed to Hurricane Milton as an example of why expanding I-65 is a “public safety issue.”
“Talking with media yesterday, I stressed that widening I-65 is a public safety issue,” Ainsworth said. “It’s Alabama’s main evacuation route from the Gulf Coast in hurricanes, and reports of heavy traffic on I-75 in Florida ahead of Hurricane Milton underscores the importance.”
Orr said he agrees with Ainsworth’s argument, but stressed that there are other major issues standing in the way of the expansion ever being done.
“I think it helps,” Orr said Friday on WVNN. “Unfortunately if there were a hurricane that came into shore there in Baldwin County, Mobile County, and you had all these people trying to get on 65 to go north, and there were huge traffic jams it would be bad bad bad. Yes it helps, but that doesn’t make the case. At the end of the day it’s a matter of dollars and cents.”
The senator explained that there are other expensive major road projects already in the works in Alabama.
“Where’s the money going to come from?” Orr said. “When you got the Mobile bridge, other projects, Birmingham’s beltway, Huntsville has needs, the list it long. And even with Governor Ivey’s Rebuild Alabama there’s just not enough dollars to go around these days.”
The Go Wide I-65 Coalition currently has a billboard campaign throughout the state pushing the idea of expanding the interstate to three lanes on each side of the road.
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
