SerpApi.Org
Construction on the $3.2 billion Interstate 10 Mobile River Bridge and Bayway project is expected to be authorized by October, putting crews on the verge of breaking ground on a project that has spent nearly three decades moving from study to reality.
Tony Harris, chief of communications and government relations with the Alabama Department of Transportation, told a legislative panel Wednesday in Montgomery that a crucial Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loan is expected to close by mid-September. The loan, which will finance up to 49% of the project’s costs, is considered the final piece needed before construction can officially begin.
In short, construction of the I-10 Mobile River Bridge and Bayway project could be underway before Halloween, nearly 30 years after the first feasibility study identified the need for it.
“For a project that has been hurry up and wait, we believe we have a path forward and can begin soon,” Harris said during the Legislative Joint Transportation Oversight Committee meeting at the Statehouse. “We expect a groundbreaking date set in next few weeks and significant participation by federal partners in that groundbreaking.”
Action this week
Pre-construction work is expected in the coming weeks, including the arrival of a field office in downtown Mobile that could be in place as early as this week.
Matt Ericksen, Southwest Region engineer with ALDOT, said other preparations, including utility work and construction of a laydown yard, will begin soon.
“It should be a lot more visible here in the (near) future,” Ericksen said during a meeting of the Eastern Shore Metropolitan Planning Organization at Daphne City Hall, also on Wednesday.
The two-phase project along I-10 between Mobile and Daphne has rapidly come together since it was announced July 9. It includes construction of a 215-foot-tall cable-stayed bridge and restriping the I-10 Bayway from four lanes to six lanes in each direction. Once underway, construction is expected to last five years.
Unlike previous versions of the project, the current plan does not call for demolition and replacement of the existing Bayway. However, Harris said the U.S. Department of Transportation has not withdrawn its long-term desire to see the Bayway eventually replaced.
Soaring construction inflation since 2020 has fueled a dramatic rise in project costs. Less than a decade ago, the project was expected to cost around $800 million. That estimate climbed to $2.1 billion by 2019, when a controversial public-private partnership proposal and a $6 one-way toll plan ultimately derailed the effort.
Completing the entire project at once would now cost more than $5 billion, a price tag state officials consider too expensive to pursue.
“Quite frankly, that is becoming the new reality for transportation mega projects around the country – to use innovative funding and financing or to phase things,” Harris said about the multi-phased approach. “We were only able to achieve phased approval recently.”
A federal pilot program, the Interstate System Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Pilot Program, or ISRRPP, will allow a new tolling plan to move forward, with proceeds directed toward repaying borrowing associated with Phase 1.
The program’s authorization is one reason Republican lawmakers earlier this month credited President Donald Trump’s administration with helping advance the project. At the same time, the project’s largest grant award, $550 million, was approved through the U.S. Department of Transportation during former President Joe Biden’s administration.
Harris said the project, even in its phased form, will be the most expensive in ALDOT history.
Tolls
The lion’s share of funding for the current bridge project comes from borrowing, with bond proceeds to be repaid through toll revenue. In 2021, the Eastern Shore MPO and Mobile County MPO established a framework under which frequent Bayway users would pay no more than $2.50 each way. Under the toll plan unveiled earlier this month, motorists with an ALGO Pass will pay $3 each way, while those without the pass will pay $7.70.
The latest toll proposal has drawn frustrated comments online but little organized opposition from public officials, a sharp contrast to 2019, when the Eastern Shore MPO voted to remove the previous I-10 project from its planning documents amid widespread constituent backlash.
No one spoke against the project during Wednesday’s Eastern Shore MPO meeting.
Daphne Mayor Robin LeJeune, who serves on the MPO along with other local elected officials, said several factors have helped build support: more time for the public to understand the project’s financing challenges, stronger coordination between ALDOT and local elected officials, and an established tolling framework developed by the MPOs.
Persistent congestion on the Bayway, which has increasingly spilled into Daphne and Spanish Fort during peak summer traffic, has also underscored the need for the project, LeJeune said.
The current I‑10 infrastructure was designed to carry 35,000 vehicles per day. Today, more than 100,000 vehicles cross Mobile Bay at peak times. Heavy congestion builds throughout the summer, especially on weekends, and traffic jams spill into neighboring communities, particularly Daphne, where U.S. 98 often comes to a standstill when Bayway traffic backs up.
“It was easy for us to come in fresh to take a step back and say, ‘what can we live with and what are the parameters on what we can do to move this project forward?’” LeJeune said, referring to leadership changes within the MPOs in 2021 and the growing need to get the project started amid traffic congestion.
“We wanted to be on the same page with the Mobile MPO … (and) have a joint project moving forward,“ he added. ”It’s been a big difference there.”
©2026 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit al.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
