In an appearance on Huntsville radio’s WVNN on Monday, State Sen. Steve Livingston (R-Scottsboro) previewed this year’s upcoming legislative session.
Livingston cited a lottery bill and attention to the state prison system, in addition to addressing infrastructure.
The Scottsboro Republican noted that the area he represents was bordered by Tennessee and Georgia, which are places that have the lottery.
“We all knew that we would see some sort of infrastructure bill in the first year of the quadrennium,” Livingston said on Monday’s “The Jeff Poor Show.” “I think there are probably some other things that are maybe just as important as that. We got other issues with prison systems and corrections that we got to take care of. They’re all equally important. But I do believe we’ll see some sort of lottery bill. That’s very important to the folks up where I’m at in the three corners where we’re surrounded by a lottery.”
Livingston recounted a visit from Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Tuscaloosa), who had inquired about the needs of his senate district. One project was the completion of Alabama Highway 35 as a four-lane highway, which exits Scottsboro from the south across the Tennessee River.
“He said, ‘Of course, I’ve got the money – we’ve arranged to get the money over the past few years to have Alabama Highway 35 finished up over there. We had to remind him there’s about a three-mile segment from the Tennessee River, up the mountain to Section that’s just three lanes. We need to get that four-laned. We need to take care of our farm-to-market roads from there, and our bridges. We have some bridges that need repaired.”
The stretch of Alabama Highway 35 climbs out of the Tennessee River valley to Sand Mountain and could be a massive undertaking.
“It has some engineering challenges,” Livingston said. “I think that’s what [Alabama Department of Transportation director John] Cooper would call it. We’ve had several slides, and we’re looking at how to engineer that. I think they had that in their plan two years ago when they tried to get a bill passed. I think they had $40 million in that little three-mile stretch. It’s pretty pricey.”
@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University, the editor of Breitbart TV and host of “The Jeff Poor Show” from 2-5 p.m. on WVNN in Huntsville.
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