MOBILE COUNTY, Ala. — Mobile County voters will decide for the 21st time whether to continue the county’s Pay-As-You-Go road program when the 2026 Pay-As-You-Go Transportation Improvement Program appears on the Nov. 3 general election ballot.
The 2026 Pay-As-You-Go program, commonly known as PAYG, would direct $82 million to 39 projects improving 89.8 miles of roadway and six bridges across Mobile County. County officials say the program would be funded with no new taxes and no new debt. Voters have approved PAYG every one of the 20 times it has appeared on the ballot.
The question will be the last item on the Mobile County ballot, under the heading “Special County Election,” so voters will need to make sure they read all the way to the end.
What the 2026 Pay-As-You-Go program would build
The proposed program includes projects across the county. Among the highlighted projects:
- Reconstruction of Dauphin Street from Fulton Street to Broad Street.
- Widening a portion of Azalea Road and constructing a new bridge over Montlimar Creek.
- Intersection improvements at Celeste Road and Radcliff Road.
- Intersection improvements at Fowl River Road and State Route 193, plus replacement of the Fowl River Road bridge over Fowl River.
- Replacement of two bridges on Beverly Jefferies Highway over the Escatawpa River.
Those projects touch very different parts of the county. Dauphin Street is one of the oldest and busiest corridors in the city of Mobile, running from downtown west through Midtown. Azalea Road is a major north-south route in west Mobile. Celeste Road and Radcliff Road are in the northern part of the county. Fowl River Road and State Route 193, also known as Dauphin Island Parkway, are in south Mobile County on the route toward Dauphin Island and the Bellingrath Gardens area. Beverly Jefferies Highway is in northwest Mobile County, where the Escatawpa River flows near the Mississippi line.
Projects in every municipality
The 2026 program includes at least one project in each of Mobile County’s 11 municipalities:
- Bayou La Batre
- Chickasaw
- Citronelle
- Creola
- Dauphin Island
- Mobile
- Mount Vernon
- Prichard
- Saraland
- Satsuma
- Semmes
The program also includes projects in unincorporated areas of the county, where the Mobile County Commission is directly responsible for county-maintained roads and bridges.
The ballot itself will not list every project. Residents who want to see the complete project list, including locations and dollar amounts, can find it through the Mobile County Commission’s official website.
How Pay-As-You-Go works
Mobile County’s PAYG program was the first of its kind in Alabama. It began in 1977 by directing revenue from a 6.5-mill ad valorem assessment, which voters first approved in 1924, to specific road and bridge projects presented to voters for approval.
According to the county, PAYG funds are collected in advance of each two-year transportation improvement program. That approach allows the county to pay for road and bridge improvements without raising taxes or taking on new long-term debt. Because the property tax that funds the program already exists, a “yes” vote continues the existing arrangement rather than adding a new tax.
A mill is one-tenth of a cent, so a mill rate is the tax owed per $1,000 of a property’s assessed value. In Alabama, assessed value is a percentage of a property’s market value, and that percentage depends on the property’s classification, with owner-occupied homes assessed at a lower rate than commercial property.
Because the program runs in two-year cycles, voters are asked to approve a new project list every other year, which is why the 2026 vote is the program’s 21st appearance on the ballot.
A long track record
Since PAYG began in 1977, voters have dedicated funding to more than 700 projects covering nearly 1,600 miles of roadway and more than 40 bridges, according to the county.
Completed PAYG projects include major improvements to some of the county’s busiest arteries, including Airport Boulevard, Schillinger Road, Cottage Hill Road, Zeigler Boulevard and Tanner Williams Road. The program has also paid for resurfacing parts of Hillcrest Road, building roundabouts throughout west and south Mobile County, and replacing bridges, including several on Schillinger Road.
Many of those roads carried far less traffic when the program began. West Mobile and unincorporated areas such as Tillmans Corner, Theodore and Semmes have grown substantially over the past several decades, and roads like Schillinger Road have been widened as development spread west.
Why projects take years to finish
Voters who approve a project in November should not expect to see bulldozers right away. The county says PAYG projects typically take several years from voter approval to completion because of required intermediate steps, including:
- Surveying
- Engineering and design
- Permitting
- Right-of-way acquisition
- Utility relocation
- Bidding
- Construction
Projects that require extensive permitting or right-of-way purchases can take longer, the county said, particularly when state or federal matching funds bring additional requirements. Bridge replacements over rivers and creeks, for example, often involve environmental reviews and coordination with state and federal agencies before construction can begin.
Why local road money matters
Road and bridge needs in Mobile County are shared among several levels of government. The Alabama Department of Transportation maintains interstates, U.S. highways and state routes, while the county is responsible for county roads and many bridges outside city limits, and cities maintain their own streets. Programs like PAYG help fill gaps, paying for projects on county roads and, through partnerships, on routes inside municipalities.
Many of the 2026 projects involve bridges and intersections. Bridges in coastal counties face particular wear from humidity, salt air and flooding, and replacing an aging structure can remove weight restrictions that force school buses, emergency vehicles and trucks to take longer detours. Intersection improvements, such as added turn lanes, new signals or roundabouts, are commonly used to reduce congestion and crashes at busy junctions.
How to vote
The general election is Tuesday, Nov. 3. Alabama’s voter registration deadline for the general election is Monday, Oct. 19. Residents can check their registration status, find their polling place and view a sample ballot through the Alabama Secretary of State’s website, alabamavotes.gov. Alabama requires voters to show an acceptable photo ID at the polls.
Voters who cannot make it to the polls on Election Day may qualify to vote by absentee ballot. Applications are handled by the Mobile County absentee election manager, and the Secretary of State’s website lists the deadlines and acceptable reasons for voting absentee.
Because PAYG is the final item on the Mobile County ballot, election officials and county leaders encourage voters to review a sample ballot before heading to the polls so they are familiar with the full list of races and questions, which this year also includes several statewide constitutional amendments and a local amendment.
What a vote means
A “yes” vote would approve the 2026 project list and continue dedicating the existing 6.5-mill assessment to those 39 road and bridge projects. A “no” vote would reject the 2026 program. Since the program began, Mobile County voters have never turned it down.
Residents with questions about specific projects can contact the Mobile County Commission or the county’s Public Works Department, which oversees road and bridge work in the county.