The nearly-hundred-year saga of overcoming challenges for southwestern Alabamians crossing from the Mobile side of the bay to the Baldwin County side of the bay seems to be at somewhat of a standstill as policymakers debate the best path forward.
While reported discussions are ongoing about what to do next, a debate continues about whether or not tolling is a proper mechanism to finance the bridge. However, former Business Council of Alabama head Katie Britt, a Republican candidate for Alabama’s U.S. Senate seat up in 2022 rejects a toll option.
During an appearance on Wednesday’s broadcast of “The Jeff Poor Show,” Britt said it would take all levels of government to rectify what she called a “federal bottleneck.”
“I think it absolutely has to be a coordination, and this is one of those things that we’ve got to do — is work from a local, state and federal level together to address the issues of Alabama,” she said. “You probably have better stats than I do with regards to that, that has been a federal bottleneck and has been acknowledged as that for years. So this is a federal road that we need to make sure we invest properly in. It can’t be a toll. It needs to be done and done the right way. And we need to make sure that there is partnership on the local, state and federal levels. So I would certainly make sure that Mobile has a seat at the table and that we are fighting for that.”
Britt pointed to other areas along the Gulf Coast where Interstate 10 travels and where when needed due to natural disasters and other events, had bridges replaced that did not include tolling.
“I don’t,” Britt replied. “I want to find a way to go a different route here. I think we have to take a look at everything. If you look at what other communities have had right there on I-10 — different bridges and causeways and things they’ve had to replace after various hurricanes and different things like that — there’s clearly been improvement all across. It is clear that in order to fix this bottleneck, we have to have improvement there at the I-10 bridge. And I think you’ve got to roll up your sleeves and figure out how you make that happen on a local, state and federal level.”
@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.
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