MOBILE, Ala. — With financing now in place and construction on the Interstate 10 Mobile River Bridge set to begin next month, a Mobile River Bridge naming debate is drawing attention along the Gulf Coast, centered on one question: What should the state’s largest road project be called?
Proposals range from President Donald Trump to Jimmy Buffett to Hank Aaron, and the debate has spilled into this fall’s statewide political races. At the same time, a growing number of Mobile and Baldwin County officials say residents of the two coastal counties should have a say before any name is chosen.
The Alabama Department of Transportation says it considers naming roads and bridges to be the prerogative of the Alabama Legislature, and any legislative action is unlikely before a new administration takes office in January.
The Mobile River Bridge naming proposals so far
The naming discussion began in August, when U.S. Rep. Barry Moore, R-Enterprise, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, proposed calling the span “Gateway to the Gulf of America, the Donald J. Trump Bridge.” Moore said at the time that the bridge would be a game changer for Mobile and the Gulf Coast and that the name would reflect Alabama’s growth and the president’s long connection with the state, from early campaign stops to strong support among Alabama voters. He said he had discussed the idea with White House staff and congressional colleagues about sponsoring a resolution.
Other suggestions followed. Among the names now in circulation:
- Donald J. Trump / Gulf of America — proposed by Moore.
- Jimmy Buffett — suggested by state Sen. Chris Elliott, R-Josephine, who represents much of Baldwin County. The late singer-songwriter spent much of his youth in Mobile and Fairhope and attended McGill-Toolen Catholic High School.
- Hank Aaron — proposed by U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Mobile. The baseball Hall of Famer grew up in Mobile’s Toulminville neighborhood.
- A simple geographic name — state Rep. Barbara Drummond, D-Mobile, said she would be comfortable with something like the Mobile Bay Bridge.
Elliott, who has described himself as a supporter of President Trump and previously sponsored legislation recognizing the “Gulf of America” name, framed his Buffett suggestion as a preference for honoring a figure with deep local ties.
Both Aaron and Buffett have been honored along Mobile’s waterfront in the past two years. A nine-foot bronze statue of Aaron was unveiled in June 2025 as part of the city’s Hall of Fame Walk outside the Arthur R. Outlaw Mobile Convention Center. A bronze statue of Buffett was unveiled this month alongside a new permanent exhibition about his life at the National Maritime Museum of the Gulf.
Who decides the name?
Unlike some local landmarks, the new bridge will not be named by the city of Mobile or either county commission. The state will make the call.
“The state will have jurisdiction over naming the new I-10 Mobile River Bridge; however, we would love the opportunity to weigh in on a name on behalf of the local community,” Mobile Mayor Spiro Cheriogotis said.
An ALDOT spokesperson said the department treats the “naming of roads and bridges as the prerogative of the legislature.” He added that the Eastern Shore and Mobile metropolitan planning organizations, both of which have been heavily involved in developing the project, should have a voice in the process.
Any resolutions adopted by local bodies would be advisory only. They would carry no legal weight and would be forwarded to Montgomery, where the final decision rests. As of this week, it was unclear whether any public body in Mobile or Baldwin County intends to adopt such a resolution.
Fairhope City Councilman Jack Burrell, who chairs the Eastern Shore Metropolitan Planning Organization, said he remains uncertain what role ALDOT will ultimately play. The agency’s next leadership is likely to be shaped by the outcome of the Nov. 3 governor’s race, and legislative action would have to wait until after January’s inauguration.
Calls for local input
Drummond has sent a letter to the South Alabama Regional Planning Commission and ALDOT asking that officials in both Mobile and Baldwin counties be included in the naming process. She has suggested the two counties conduct a public survey and send the results to ALDOT.
“I just really think the public ought to have a voice in it,” Drummond said. “Make it ours rather than just one person making a decision. It’s an economic thread that will be with us for decades.”
Drummond said she has her own preference but would accept other outcomes.
“If I had to choose (a name), I’d like it to be Hank Aaron,” Drummond said. “But that is just me. If it’s just the Mobile Bay Bridge, then I’m fine with that. But for transparency sakes, we have to have the locals weigh in on it.”
Mobile City Council President C.J. Small also said the name should carry a meaningful local connection.
“We have an opportunity to give this bridge a name that means something to Mobile,” Small said. “I think our community should have a say in what that looks like.”
Burrell declined to endorse a specific name but said he favors someone with ties to the region.
“I personally like it named after someone who has roots in the area,” Burrell said. “I don’t think it should be named after any politicians with nothing to do with (the project), that’s for sure. If they stick a politicians name on it, I hope (the politician) comes up with a few billion dollars to pay for it.”
A campaign-season debate
The bridge’s name has also become a talking point in the 2026 races, largely dividing candidates along party lines.
In the lieutenant governor’s race, Republican nominee John Wahl has said the bridge should be named for Trump. Democratic candidate Phillip Ensler, a state lawmaker, has said Alabama leaders should focus on more pressing matters than naming the bridge.
In the governor’s race, Democratic nominee and former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones has called Moore’s proposal “pandering.” Jones has also objected to the idea of pairing a Trump-named bridge with the nearby tunnel named for former Gov. George Wallace.
“The symbolism is also impossible to ignore,” Jones said last month. “Placing a bridge named for Donald Trump beside the George Wallace Tunnel would send a troubling message about how Alabama chooses to present itself to the country. Our state should be moving beyond a history defined by politicians who use division as a path to power, not finding new ways to memorialize it.”
Speaking before a town hall at Bishop State Community College in Mobile on Wednesday, Jones said the naming decision should be made locally.
“I damn sure don’t think you name it after Donald Trump since he had nothing to do with it,” Jones said. “I think this is an issue that ought to be local. I think this is a local issue that the governor doesn’t need to weigh in on.”
Moore has previously tied the project’s progress to the president. When federal officials finalized a key grant in 2025, Moore noted that Trump had promised in 2019 to build a new I-10 bridge. Trump’s U.S. Department of Transportation finalized a $550 million federal grant for the project in May 2025 and announced a federal loan of up to $2.52 billion on Friday. Announcing the loan, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy credited the president, saying, “After decades of delay, this historic investment into Alabama is yet another example of how President Trump is delivering big, beautiful infrastructure projects that will transform communities for the better.”
Jones’ opponent, Republican U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, is a close ally of the president. His campaign did not respond to a request for comment on the naming question, and Moore’s office also did not respond this week.
How the Wallace Tunnel got its name
The current debate echoes one from six decades ago. In 1964, the Mobile civic group Downtown Mobile Unlimited Inc. proposed naming the planned I-10 tunnel under the Mobile River — then described as the “largest single project of its kind in Alabama history” — for Gov. George C. Wallace.
The proposal came less than a year after Wallace’s “Stand in the Schoolhouse Door” at the University of Alabama, where he symbolically opposed the integration of the university. Mobile leaders forwarded the suggestion to the Legislature, which approved the name through a joint resolution.
The George C. Wallace Tunnel opened on Feb. 9, 1973. The twin-tube tunnel carries four lanes of I-10 about 3,000 feet beneath the Mobile River between downtown Mobile and Blakeley Island and cost about $50 million to build. More than 50 years later, it has become one of the Gulf Coast’s best-known traffic bottlenecks.
The key difference this time, local officials note, is that the 1960s proposal originated in Mobile. The current proposals have come from a variety of state and federal officials, prompting the push for a formal local voice.
What the bridge project includes
The naming debate arrives at a milestone moment for a project that has been discussed for decades. According to ALDOT, the first phase of the Mobile River Bridge and Bayway Project will cost $3.2 billion and is now fully financed through a combination of federal grants, a federal loan, toll revenue bonds and state money. Highlights include:
- A six-lane, cable-stayed bridge rising about 215 feet over the Mobile River
- Expanding the I-10 Bayway to three lanes in each direction, including about a mile of reconstruction
- A route for hazardous-material cargo, which is prohibited in the Wallace Tunnel
- Full construction beginning Oct. 1, with the bridge projected to open in late 2031
- Tolls only on the new bridge once it opens: $3 per trip with an ALGO Pass, or $60 per month for unlimited crossings
The Wallace Tunnel, Bankhead Tunnel, Africatown Bridge and the Causeway will remain toll-free alternatives.
The project’s path has not been smooth. In August 2019, an earlier version that relied on a proposed $6 toll collapsed after the Eastern Shore Metropolitan Planning Organization voted 8-1 to withdraw its support, and Gov. Kay Ivey declared, “This project is dead.” The plan was later revived with a lower toll and more federal funding.
What comes next
Officials are preparing to announce a date for a ceremonial groundbreaking, an event that could draw members of the Trump administration to the Gulf Coast and possibly the president himself.
For now, Cheriogotis said, the city’s priority is keeping the project on track.
“We remain solely focused on doing what we can to continue to move this incredibly important project forward,” Cheriogotis said.
Residents who want to weigh in on the name can contact their state legislators, who would ultimately vote on any naming resolution, or share comments with the Mobile and Eastern Shore metropolitan planning organizations, which ALDOT says should have a voice in the process.