The Alabama Highway Authority, on December 11th, issued $730 million in bonds to finish a four-lane route from Mobile to Tuscaloosa. The highway project has long been described as necessary for west Alabama’s economy by Gov. Kay Ivey’s administration.
In a statement regarding the bond issue, the State Finance Department said, in part, that the bond issue will “support the planning, design, and construction of the West Alabama Corridor project.”
The funds will be used in the expansion of the highway to four lanes from Thomasville to Moundville. The expansion will solidify a four-lane corridor from Mobile to Tuscaloosa, a distance of approximately 200 miles.
“This expansion advances one of the State’s primary transportation objectives: ensuring four-lane access to an interstate for countless currently lacking such access, thereby strengthening the State’s economic development efforts and supporting infrastructure capacity necessary for growth,” the Finance Department said.
Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth, who has previously criticized the highway project, did so again after the issuance of bonds.
“Spending $750 million state dollars on the West Alabama Corridor with ZERO federal match is the biggest abuse of taxpayer funding in Alabama history,” Ainsworth said on X, formerly Twitter. “ALDOT Director John Cooper should be embarrassed. When your local potholes, roads, and bridges can’t be repaired for lack of funding, blame this massive boondoggle.”
Ainsworth has previously said the state should emphasize expanding Interstate 65 to six lanes from Mobile to Tennessee.
Gov. Ivey has been committed to the project since mentioning it during her 2021 State of the State address.
Gina Maiola, Ivey’s communications director, issued a statement last Thursday in response to Ainsworth, saying:
“Fortunately, the governor, Kay Ivey, determines the transportation priorities for our state. The Rebuild Alabama Act, made possible by Governor Ivey’s leadership, is intended to, in part, bring four-lane access where it is lacking. The West Alabama Corridor will do exactly that, providing real economic opportunity to rural Alabama and beyond. It is one of hundreds of Rebuild Alabama projects across all 67 counties.”
The Rebuild Alabama Act, endorsed by Ivey and passed by the Legislature in 2019, increased the state’s gasoline tax to aid road construction. The tax was raised in phases, by a total of ten cents per gallon as of October 2021.
The bill included a provision allowing an additional increase of one cent per gallon every two years based on the National Highway Construction Cost Index. Overall, the tax has been increased by 12 cents, from 18 cents per gallon to 30 cents per gallon.
The Rebuild Alabama Act included Alabama’s first gasoline tax increase since 1992.
ALDOT spokesman Tony Harris said the state’s transportation funds and available federal funds are being used industriously.
“Thanks to the Rebuild Alabama Act, ALDOT funds are going further than ever,” said Harris. “All available federal funds are being matched with additional state funds on projects across Alabama. Rebuild funds are being invested in other projects to stimulate economic development in underserved areas and to reduce congestion.
“If the state could use Rebuild funds to draw down additional federal dollars, we would be doing it left and right, but that’s not how the federal program works.”
