MOBILE, Ala. — With a $6 toll possibly coming to the Bayway, drivers are already looking at alternate routes across Mobile Bay — but a timed test suggests the toll may still be the faster option.
Mapping apps estimate it takes about 24 minutes to reach Baldwin County via the Bayway, 25 minutes through downtown to the Causeway and 28 minutes using the Africatown Bridge to the Causeway. To check those numbers, a local news crew drove each route with matching start and end points over two days at similar times.
The Bayway route left at 3:30 p.m. and reached Baldwin County at 4:03 p.m., slowed by a traffic jam near the Wallace Tunnel and again on the Bayway bridge. The Causeway route, leaving at 4:30 p.m., arrived at 5:15 p.m. after backups on Government Street. The Africatown Bridge route, leaving at 3:45 p.m., arrived at 4:16 p.m., with the only delay near where the Bankhead Tunnel lets out onto the Causeway.
All told, the Africatown Bridge was quickest at 31 minutes, the Bayway second at 33 minutes and the Causeway last at 45 minutes. The test could not account for how many drivers will shift off the Bayway once a toll takes effect, which could lengthen the alternate routes further.