A Cullman County lawmaker wants Alabama’s biggest bridge project to carry the name of its most beloved entertainer. State Rep. Cindy Myrex, R-Cullman, is calling for the new Mobile River crossing to be named the “Dolly Parton Memorial Bridge,” honoring the country icon who died Tuesday at age 80 after a brief battle with cancer.
“Dolly Parton represents so much of what people love about the South: faith, family, hard work, generosity, humility, and never forgetting where you came from,” Myrex said. “Her impact goes far beyond music.”
The Imagination Library Connection
Myrex pointed to Parton’s decades of philanthropy — above all the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, which mails free books monthly to children from birth to age five. Alabama began expanding the program statewide in 2023, and it now operates in all 67 counties. Roughly 105,000 Alabama children currently receive books, and more than 5.4 million books have been delivered in the state since 2004, according to the program.
Parton’s charitable legacy also spans disaster relief, health care and education — work that ran alongside one of the most successful careers in country music history.
A Crowded Naming Debate
The proposal adds Parton to a rapidly growing list of suggested namesakes for the new Interstate 10 crossing connecting Mobile and Baldwin counties. U.S. Rep. Barry Moore, R-Enterprise, has pitched naming the span for Jimmy Buffett, the Mobile-born singer-songwriter who died in 2023, while other fans have floated Mobile natives from Hank Aaron to Nick Saban.
Myrex said her intent is to begin a conversation rather than settle the debate. “The new Mobile bridge will become an Alabama landmark and a gateway traveled by millions of people,” she said. “I can think of few people who better represent the Southern values of generosity, perseverance, and hospitality than Dolly Parton.”
The Mobile River Bridge and Bayway project — a roughly $2.1 billion effort to add a new crossing and rebuild the Bankhead Tunnel approach — remains in development, with tolling and naming questions still to be worked out as construction planning advances.