Commentary: Alabama’s Political Map Explains Why the Bayway Toll Is Happening

Alabama politics has always split along geographic lines, and the ongoing fight over a proposed toll on the Interstate 10 Bayway is the latest reminder of just how wide that divide can be. To lawmakers and voters in Birmingham and Huntsville, the coastal counties can feel like a distant, disconnected corner of the state.

To residents of Mobile and Baldwin counties, the reverse is often true. Somewhere in between sits Montgomery, where the state’s most consequential decisions get made by a legislature dominated by representatives from outside Southwest Alabama.

That imbalance helps explain why a $3 to $6 toll on future Bayway travelers has moved forward with relatively little resistance from state leaders, even as it would fall hardest on the commuters, shift workers and everyday drivers who cross the causeway between Mobile and the Eastern Shore multiple times a week. Population numbers tell the story: the counties north of Montgomery simply have more votes, and more votes mean more sway over how transportation dollars and infrastructure priorities get decided.

Why the Toll Faces Little Political Resistance

It is difficult to imagine the same policy surviving in reverse. A toll on Interstate 59/20 through downtown Birmingham, or on the roads leading to Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa or Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, would almost certainly draw immediate and sustained political backlash.

Yet a toll on the primary artery connecting Mobile and Baldwin counties has drawn comparatively muted opposition from the state’s power centers. Supporters of the toll note that a significant share of I-10 traffic through Mobile is not local at all. Much of it consists of long-haul travelers passing between Mississippi and Florida, meaning out-of-state drivers would shoulder a considerable portion of the cost. That argument has given the Alabama Department of Transportation political cover to move ahead with tolling plans that might otherwise face stiffer resistance from local elected officials.

Alabama’s Unusual Coastal Political Power

The dispute also highlights something unusual about Alabama compared with many other coastal states. In much of the country, coastal regions anchor a state’s population and, by extension, its political power. Alabama has historically been the exception. Mobile’s political dominance peaked in the middle of the 20th century, and the state’s center of gravity has steadily shifted north and east ever since.

With only about 60 miles of Gulf shoreline, Alabama’s coastal region has never carried the same electoral weight as coastal areas in states like Florida, California or the Carolinas. That does not mean the region’s influence is fixed in place.

Baldwin County has become one of the fastest-growing counties in the state, and projections from the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Alabama suggest that growth is only accelerating. Researchers there estimate Baldwin County’s population could grow by roughly 65 percent over the next two decades, which would push it past Madison County to become the state’s fourth-largest county, trailing only Jefferson, Madison and Mobile counties by 2040.

For comparison, Madison and Limestone counties have received extensive statewide attention in recent years after landing a major joint Mazda-Toyota manufacturing plant, a project frequently cited by state officials as a signature economic development win. Yet neither county’s projected growth rate over the next twenty years is expected to match what demographers foresee for Baldwin County.

The Rebuild Alabama Act and Port Funding Fight

The political consequences of that shift, however, will not be felt for years, which leaves coastal Alabama with limited leverage in the toll debate today.

Adding to the political headwinds is a perception in other parts of the state that Mobile and the surrounding region already came out ahead when the Legislature passed the Rebuild Alabama Act, which raised the state’s fuel tax to fund road and bridge projects.

The Rebuild Alabama Act, signed by Gov. Kay Ivey in March 2019, raised the state’s gasoline and diesel taxes by 10 cents a gallon, phased in over three years, with later increases tied to highway construction costs.

Because a portion of that revenue was directed toward expanding the Port of Mobile, some lawmakers outside the region have suggested South Alabama has little standing to complain about a new toll. The numbers tell a more nuanced story.

Roughly $12 million a year from the increased gas tax goes toward the port, a meaningful sum but a small fraction of the more than $300 million the law is expected to generate annually for road and bridge construction statewide.

GOMESA Funds and Lingering Spill Money Frustration

Some members of the state’s congressional delegation, including former U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne, have floated using Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act funds, known as GOMESA revenue, as an alternative to tolling.

That proposal has gained little traction in Montgomery, where state leaders have shown a preference for directing GOMESA dollars toward other priorities, aware that the South Alabama delegation lacks the votes to force the issue.

Lingering frustration over how the state handled BP oil spill settlement money has compounded the sense among coastal residents that their region’s concerns carry less weight in Montgomery. A portion of that settlement was redirected to help close a state budget shortfall and fund Medicaid rather than being reinvested directly into the communities most affected by the spill. Coastal advocates argued at the time that the move shortchanged the Gulf Coast, but the political fallout from that decision has largely faded from statewide conversation.

None of these grievances are likely to derail the toll on their own. A fairness argument rarely wins a legislative fight, particularly when the region raising it does not hold enough seats to force the outcome.

Longtime observers of Alabama politics say the more durable path for Mobile and Baldwin counties is to keep building the region’s population and economic weight, then translate that growth into a stronger political bloc in Montgomery over time. Given current projections, that shift may be less a matter of if than when.

Related coverage from South AL News

• Why Montgomery Keeps Overlooking Mobile and Baldwin Counties on the Bayway Toll
• ALDOT Chief Defends Mobile River Bridge Toll Plan as Pricing Details Emerge
• Two Local Planning Boards Hold Veto Power Over Mobile Bayway Toll Plan
• Senate Leader Says Alabama Must Face Gas Tax Debate to Fund Port and Roads