Residents who want to speak in person before state and federal transportation officials about the proposed bridge over the Mobile River had one last opportunity Monday evening in Spanish Fort.
The Alabama Department of Transportation, working alongside the Federal Highway Administration, held its second and final public forum on the long-discussed I-10 bridge project at the 5 Rivers Delta Resource Center. The venue sits along the eastern shore of Mobile Bay in Baldwin County, giving residents on that side of the bay a convenient chance to weigh in on a project that would ultimately connect to the existing interstate corridor across the Mobile River.
An ALDOT spokeswoman said the Spanish Fort session would follow the same format used at an earlier meeting held at the Alabama Cruise Terminal in Mobile, which lasted about an hour and a half and attracted more than 300 attendees. Exhibits illustrating what the proposed span — estimated to cost roughly $850 million — might ultimately look like were on display starting at 4 p.m., with the formal comment period beginning at 5:30 p.m. Officials said the forum would continue for as long as necessary to let every registered speaker have a turn, with each speaker given a two-minute window.
Although Monday’s session marked the last scheduled in-person hearing, the public comment window on the bridge project remained open for several more weeks, with a final deadline in early November. After that point, responsibility shifts to state and federal planners, who must weigh the public input alongside engineering and environmental findings before settling on a preferred corridor and beginning detailed design work. Officials noted that no final design could move forward until an environmental impact study addressing the public’s concerns was completed, with that study expected to wrap up by the end of the year.
For residents who could not attend in person, ALDOT outlined several other ways to weigh in. Comment sheets could be filled out at the meeting itself or submitted through a dedicated project website expected to go live later in September. Comments could also be faxed to ALDOT’s Southwest Region office, emailed directly to project staff, or mailed to the region engineer’s office in Mobile ahead of the November deadline.
The proposed bridge has been one of the most closely watched infrastructure projects along the Interstate 10 corridor connecting Mobile and Baldwin counties, with area residents, business owners and commuters voicing a range of opinions on everything from the bridge’s footprint to its potential effect on local traffic patterns and the surrounding waterfront. The Spanish Fort meeting gave Eastern Shore residents in particular a chance to raise concerns specific to their side of the bay before the formal comment period closes and the project moves into its next phase.
Anyone who missed both public forums but still wants a voice in the process was encouraged to submit written comments through any of the available channels before the November cutoff, after which the public comment period tied to the environmental review will formally close.