A major widening project on Interstate 10 in Mobile County has wrapped up, giving drivers a third travel lane in each direction along one of the region’s busiest stretches of interstate. The Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) says the newly completed work is already easing congestion for the tens of thousands of vehicles that travel the corridor every day.
The project added a third lane to roughly five miles of I-10 in both the eastbound and westbound directions, between Carol Plantation Road and McDonald Road. With the new lanes in place, that section of interstate now carries six total lanes of traffic, up from four.
A Response to Heavy Daily Traffic
The stretch of I-10 between Carol Plantation Road and McDonald Road is one of the more heavily traveled sections of interstate in Mobile County, seeing an estimated 65,000 vehicles a day. That volume of traffic, moving through what had been a four-lane bottleneck, made the corridor a natural target for expansion as ALDOT works to keep pace with growth across the region.
By adding a third lane in each direction, the project is designed to give drivers more room to merge, pass slower-moving vehicles and maintain a steadier flow of traffic, particularly during the morning and afternoon commute. ALDOT officials say the extra capacity should translate into shorter, more predictable travel times for the commuters, commercial trucks and visitors who rely on the interstate to move through Mobile County.
Funded Through the Rebuild Alabama Act
The $24.8 million project was funded through the Rebuild Alabama Act, the state’s program dedicated to repairing and modernizing Alabama’s roads and bridges. Since it was signed into law, the act has directed funding toward a range of infrastructure upgrades across the state, and the I-10 widening in Mobile County represents one of the more significant investments to reach the region under the program.
“This project represents a critical investment in our transportation infrastructure,” said James Gordon, an ALDOT Southwest Region spokesperson. “The widened I-10 will enhance connectivity, promote economic growth, and improve quality of life.”
What It Means for Mobile County
Interstate 10 is the primary east-west corridor connecting Mobile County to the rest of the Gulf Coast, carrying everything from daily commuter traffic to freight moving between Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. Delays or bottlenecks along the route can ripple outward, affecting commercial trucking schedules as well as everyday commutes for residents who live and work on opposite ends of the county.
ALDOT has framed the completed widening as part of a broader commitment to safer, more efficient travel for Alabama residents, visitors and the businesses and industries that depend on the state’s highway network. Wider interstates with additional through-lanes generally also give emergency responders and maintenance crews more room to operate without fully blocking traffic, an added safety benefit for a corridor that sees such consistently high volume.
With the new lanes now open to traffic, ALDOT says the completed project reflects its ongoing effort to modernize key stretches of Alabama’s interstate system to match current and future demand. Drivers along the Carol Plantation Road to McDonald Road stretch of I-10 should now find three lanes available in each direction for the first time.