MOBILE, Alabama — Residents will get two chances this fall to speak directly to state transportation officials about the long-discussed plan to build a new Mobile River Bridge and widen the Bayway, as the project’s draft environmental review moves toward public comment.
Two hearings, two locations
The first public hearing is set for Tuesday, Sept. 23, at the Alabama Cruise Terminal downtown. An exhibit area featuring maps, renderings and other visual displays will be open from 4 to 8 p.m., giving residents a chance to talk one-on-one with the engineers working on the draft environmental impact statement. A short presentation is scheduled for 5:30 p.m., followed by a public forum where anyone wishing to speak can sign up at the entrance and will be given two minutes at the microphone.
A second hearing, covering the same material, will be held the following Monday, Sept. 29, at the Five Rivers Delta Resource Center, also running from 4 to 8 p.m. Residents who prefer not to speak publicly can instead fill out comment forms at either event, or submit comments online once the project’s public comment portal opens.
Written comments must reach the Alabama Department of Transportation’s Mobile Area Office by 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 7, giving residents roughly six weeks after the first hearing to weigh in on the proposal.
Part of a bigger regional roadwork picture
The bridge hearings come as several other Mobile-area road projects continue to reshape traffic patterns around the city. Work on the Interstate 10 ramp to Battleship Parkway, closed since a July tanker crash, was set to begin the same week as the first bridge hearing and is expected to take about two months. Satchel Paige Drive remains closed between Government Street and Bolling Brothers Boulevard as crews widen it to four lanes as part of the McGowin Park shopping center development, and the Three Notch Road roundabout project continues on its own two-month timeline.
Resurfacing on State Route 163 and on Alabama 181 in Baldwin County have both wrapped up, while resurfacing on U.S. 90 between Halls Mill and Pine Hill Drive got underway this week with nighttime lane closures expected through December. The Baldwin Beach Express connector to County Road 68 is more than 90 percent finished, and the Little Lagoon Pass bridge replacement remains roughly halfway complete.
Transportation officials say the two hearings represent a key step in shaping the eventual design of the Mobile River Bridge project, a proposal that has been debated locally for years as a way to ease chronic congestion on the existing bridge and Bayway.