Alabama politics has long divided along a north-south fault line, and the debate over a planned toll on the Interstate 10 Bayway is only the latest example of how that divide plays out in real dollars for South Alabama drivers.
State officials are moving forward with plans to charge motorists somewhere between three and six dollars to cross the Bayway once new lanes and improvements are complete. For commuters who cross the causeway daily between Mobile and Baldwin County, that toll would add up to a real monthly expense, layered on top of already rising costs of living along the Gulf Coast.
Critics of the plan argue that a toll of this kind would never be seriously considered on a comparable stretch of interstate closer to the state’s population centers in the north. No one is proposing tolls on Interstate 59/20 through downtown Birmingham, and no one is floating the idea of charging drivers to reach Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa or Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn. Yet a toll on the coast, where daily commuters have fewer alternate routes, has drawn comparatively little pushback from state leadership.
Part of the calculus, supporters of the toll note, is that a significant share of I-10 traffic through Mobile and Baldwin counties consists of out-of-state travelers passing between Mississippi and Florida rather than local commuters. Backers of the toll argue that spreading the cost to through-traffic, rather than relying solely on state gas tax dollars, is a reasonable way to fund the upgrades. Still, local residents who use the Bayway for work, school and everyday errands would not be exempt from the charge.
The dispute also highlights a broader dynamic in Alabama politics: unlike many other coastal states, Alabama’s political power has not historically been concentrated along its shoreline. With only about 60 miles of Gulf coastline, Alabama’s coastal counties have had to compete for influence against the state’s larger population centers in the north and center of the state, a dynamic that dates back to the middle of the 20th century when Mobile’s political dominance in the state began to wane.
That imbalance persists even as Baldwin County’s population continues to swell. Projections from the University of Alabama’s Center for Business and Economic Research show Baldwin County’s population growing by roughly 65 percent over the next two decades, which would make it the state’s fourth-largest county by 2040, trailing only Jefferson, Madison and Mobile counties. For now, though, that anticipated growth has not translated into outsized political leverage in Montgomery, where decisions about infrastructure funding continue to be made without the same level of scrutiny applied to projects elsewhere in the state.
Some South Alabama officials, including former U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne, have pushed for an alternative funding source: Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act (GOMESA) revenue, which flows to Gulf Coast states in part because of offshore energy production. State leaders in Montgomery have been reluctant to redirect GOMESA funds toward the Bayway toll issue, preferring to allocate that revenue elsewhere, a decision made easier by the fact that the South Alabama legislative delegation does not carry enough votes to force the issue.
There is also lingering frustration in other parts of the state over how South Alabama has benefited from the Rebuild Alabama Act, the 2019 law that raised the state’s fuel tax to pay for road and bridge projects, including improvements at the Port of Mobile. About $12 million a year in gas tax revenue is directed to the port, a relatively modest slice compared to the more than $300 million the law raises annually overall for road and bridge construction statewide. Even so, the perception that South Alabama came out ahead in the deal has made it harder to build sympathy elsewhere in the state for coastal complaints about tolling.
Adding to that tension is the memory of how BP oil spill settlement money was used. Rather than being directed entirely toward restoring the Gulf Coast economy and environment, a portion of those funds was redirected by the legislature to help close a state budget shortfall, including obligations tied to Medicaid funding and other state debt. For many coastal residents, that decision still stings, even as it has faded from the political conversation elsewhere in Alabama.
For now, the Bayway toll debate remains less a fight over data or dollars than one over political weight. South Alabama’s population and economic growth continue to outpace much of the rest of the state, but translating that growth into the kind of legislative influence needed to reshape decisions made in Montgomery will take years, not a single election cycle or a single public outcry over a toll booth.