An Alabama lawmaker is proposing a “Dolly Parton Memorial Bridge” for the new Mobile River crossing, adding the late country icon’s name to a growing list of potential namesakes for the landmark project.
State Rep. Cindy Myrex (R-Cullman) called on Alabama to consider naming the bridge connecting Mobile and Baldwin counties for Parton, who died Tuesday at age 80 after a brief battle with cancer.
“Dolly Parton represents so much of what people love about the South: faith, family, hard work, generosity, humility, and never forgetting where you came from,” Myrex said. “Her impact goes far beyond music.”
Myrex pointed particularly to Parton’s decades of philanthropy, including Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, which provides free books each month to children from birth to age five.
Alabama began expanding the program statewide in 2023. It is now available in all 67 counties, with approximately 105,000 Alabama children currently receiving books and more than 5.4 million books delivered in the state since 2004, according to the Imagination Library.
“She has spent her life giving back, helping children learn to read, supporting families in times of need, and bringing people together,” Myrex said.
Parton’s charitable work also included disaster relief, education, health care and other causes throughout her career, building a philanthropic legacy alongside one of the most successful careers in country music.
“The new Mobile bridge will become an Alabama landmark and a gateway traveled by millions of people,” Myrex said. “I can think of few people who better represent the Southern values of generosity, perseverance, and hospitality than Dolly Parton.”
Myrex said the proposal is intended to begin a conversation rather than settle what has quickly become a crowded debate over what Alabama should call the new crossing.
U.S. Rep. Barry Moore (R-Enterprise) recently proposed the “Gateway to the Gulf of America, the Donald J. Trump Bridge.” State Sen. Chris Elliott (R-Josephine) subsequently backed Gulf Coast icon Jimmy Buffett, while Yellowhammer News contributor Dale Jackson has argued for former Alabama football coach Nick Saban.
“Dolly may have been born in Tennessee, but the values she represents belong to the entire South,” Myrex said. “I think the Dolly Parton Memorial Bridge would be a name people would remember, smile about, and be proud to cross for generations.”
The $3.2 billion first phase of the Mobile River Bridge and Bayway project is expected to begin construction by the end of 2026, with the new bridge currently projected to open around 2031.
Sawyer Knowles is a state and political reporter for Yellowhammer News. You may contact him at [email protected].
