U.S. Rep.-elect Carl: I-10 Bridge toll still ‘out of the question’

Last Tuesday, voters made it official and Mobile County Commissioner Jerry Carl will fill the seat soon to be vacated by U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-Fairhope) at the end of this Congress.

Among the priorities for the First Congressional District remains the I-10 Bridge connecting Mobile and Baldwin Counties, which suffered a setback last year after an impasse between local and state officials over the project’s funding.

During an interview with Mobile’s FM Talk 106.5, Carl vowed that a toll would not be a component of any proposal he was a part of.

“The toll is out of the question,” he said. “I’ll never settle for a toll simply because it is too controversial. I don’t think it’s fair for the local folks. I think the folks that are going to and from work from Baldwin County to Mobile and Mobile to Baldwin County — I don’t think they need the big strap or the toll. Now, if we were talking about tolls for only people passing through or truck traffic, I’m all for that. I understand that. I get that. But once we take the option for the local folks to give it untolled off the table, that’s when I got against the project, and that’s been my stance, and that remains my stance.”

Carl, who was en route to meet with Gov. Kay Ivey, said it was his aim to improve the relationship between local officials and Ivey and to also take advantage of U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby’s (R-Tuscaloosa) position of chairman on the Senate Appropriations Committee before his term expired.

“What we’ve got to do now is we’ve got to get local officials back in better communications with the Governor’s office,” Carl added. “That’s part of the conversation I’ll have today — to find out what the Governor needs me to do or how I can play a role in that — compared to one of those elected officials that are my personal friends, and we need a good positive conversation going between local officials, our legislature and also the Governor. That’s first and foremost. Two is we’ve got to figure out a way of downsizing the project that’s actually doable.”

“I know that sounds like a lot, but you know, we’ve got Richard Shelby the next two years, and we have got to take advantage of that from the appropriations side,” he continued. “I don’t want to show my hand too much, but I’ve been working on this for the last eight months trying to keep the bridge alive and trying to keep it moving, and I think it is. Again, I don’t want to get ahead of myself and say too much, but we all understand the bridge is an extremely, extremely important project for District 1, period. So we can’t lose sight of that. We may disagree in some areas, but we have to keep pushing and keep that alive. The business community and the locals — it’s too important not to.”

@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.