Baldwin County Commission has finalized the transfer of its portions of several county-owned roadways to the Alabama Department of Transportation.

These roadways include Baldwin Beach Express, Foley Beach Express, Roscoe Road and County Road 4. The transfer places these roads under the ownership and maintenance of ALDOT, making them part of a roadway network to Alabama’s Gulf Coast beaches.

“The Beach Express routes serve as a major corridor to connect the traveling public to Alabama’s Gulf Coast Beaches. These previously county-maintained routes connected I-10 to the north to other state routes to the south,” County Engineer Frank Lundy said. “The transfer of these routes to ALDOT allows for a more cohesive roadway network, maintained by one agency, to better facilitate the needs of the traveling public.”

The county engineer noted these routes have been built over a span of years by the county, and funding the maintenance has gotten expensive.
“The cost to maintain major routes such as these is very expensive, and heavy maintenance needs such as resurfacing is on the horizon,” Lundy said. “ALDOT is in a better position to fund these needs and I believe both agencies recognized executing the transfer before these needs became critical best serves the interest of the travelling public.”
Lundy added that this transfer fits into the broader transportation and infrastructure strategy of Baldwin County.
“By relieving the county of the major costs to maintain these routes, including resurfacing and other major upgrades, the county can utilize these funds to better target strategic plan infrastructure goals of connectivity and capacity improvement on other roads that are primarily utilized by Baldwin County residents,” he said.
Since the inception of these roads, the county put in an Access Management Plan. This plan was included in the transfer and is still in effect.
“The only real difference is property owners and developers will now coordinate with ALDOT to connect to the roads, rather than the County,” Lundy said.
Baldwin County has partnered with ALDOT on other major infrastructure projects to serve the transportation needs within the county.
“A few current examples include the recently completed Old Highway 31 and U.S. 31 intersection realignment project near Spanish Fort and the County Road 13/Twin Beech Road roundabout project near Fairhope that is currently under construction,” Lundy said. “Both of these projects were funded through the ALDOT Highway Safety Improvement Program with ALDOT funding 90% of construction and the county funding 10%.”