A new Interstate 10 bridge connecting Mobile and Baldwin counties has topped the wish list of local officials for well over a decade, and Alabama’s governor told a Mobile business audience this month that he intends to see it through before he leaves office.
Speaking at a Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce luncheon downtown, Gov. Robert Bentley said the only thing standing between the region and a new bridge over the Mobile River would ultimately be money. “Before I leave office in four years, the only thing holding us back from doing the I-10 bridge will be money,” he told the crowd, echoing testimony he had given days earlier before a U.S. Senate committee in Washington.
The scale of the challenge is significant. The proposed bridge has been estimated to cost nearly $1 billion, and even after clearing environmental and regulatory reviews, the project would still need a substantial state funding match. With the federal Highway Trust Fund running low nationally, Bentley argued that major regional projects like the Mobile River bridge should not have to compete against routine road and bridge maintenance for the same limited pool of state transportation dollars.
Instead, Bentley floated the idea of a dedicated federal funding stream that states could apply for specifically to build projects of what he called “regional and national significance,” rather than drawing down each state’s standard transportation allocation. He said he raised the concept directly with U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer of California during his Senate testimony, telling her that Alabama would welcome having to compete for that kind of dedicated funding. “We’re never afraid of competition,” he said he told her.
Bentley also said he wants federal transportation policy to preserve flexibility for states and avoid earmarks that lock funding to specific pet projects chosen in Washington rather than by state transportation officials. Still, he acknowledged that the underlying problem for large infrastructure projects nationwide, including the Mobile River span, comes down to a shortage of new revenue for transportation funding overall. “Certainly, right now, any large project is in jeopardy because of funding,” he told reporters after his remarks.
For Mobile and Baldwin county leaders who have pushed for a new I-10 crossing for years to relieve congestion on the aging Bayway and George Wallace Tunnel, the governor’s comments offered a measure of reassurance that the project remains a state priority, even as the financing path forward stays uncertain. Regional business and elected officials have long argued that a new bridge is critical not just for local commuters but for freight traffic moving through the Port of Mobile and along the broader Gulf Coast corridor.