U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne, R-Fairhope, used a conference call with reporters in early January 2015 to lay out his opposition to raising the federal gas tax as a way to shore up the nation’s transportation fund, arguing the money should instead come from general government revenue.
The issue carries direct weight for Mobile and Baldwin counties, where planning was underway for a proposed new Interstate 10 bridge over the Mobile River and an expanded Bayway meant to relieve the chronic gridlock that backs up through the Wallace Tunnel. Byrne said he expected the U.S. Secretary of Transportation to visit Mobile early in the year to see the bottleneck firsthand, and that the Alabama Department of Transportation was working toward completing a final environmental review of the bridge project sometime during the year.
With a price tag approaching $1 billion, the bridge project would rely heavily on federal Highway Trust Fund dollars, along with other regional priorities such as a widening of U.S. Highway 45. That trust fund, however, is fed by gas tax collections that have been shrinking as vehicles become more fuel efficient, prompting some in Congress to consider raising the per-gallon tax. Byrne said he would rather see transportation funded out of general revenue, arguing Congress could find sufficient savings elsewhere in the federal budget without touching drivers’ wallets further.
Byrne also addressed several other matters important to the Gulf Coast during the call. He reiterated his criticism of federal fisheries regulators over red snapper season limits, saying population estimates used to set increasingly short seasons undercount the true number of fish in the Gulf of Mexico. He pointed to legislation from a fellow Gulf Coast congressman that would shift fisheries management authority from Washington back to the states, and said he had offered an amendment to a Gulf fisheries reauthorization bill that would let states manage waters closer to shore while shifting stock-assessment responsibility to a regional fisheries commission.
The congressman also said he continues to support federal recognition for the MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians, a tribe based in Washington and Mobile counties, though he acknowledged broad congressional resistance to recognizing new tribes nationally has stalled that effort. He said the region’s shipbuilding sector, an economic engine for Mobile County, remained on solid footing, noting continued federal commitment to the Navy’s littoral combat ship program built locally.
For coastal Alabama residents who rely on the Bayway and Wallace Tunnel corridor daily, or who fish Gulf waters for red snapper, Byrne’s comments offered an early look at funding fights and regulatory battles that would shape transportation and fisheries policy affecting the region throughout the year.