ORANGE BEACH, AL — There appeared at first there was a split vote between two toll bridge and road bills that could affect infrastructure in Baldwin County.

Both the bill for a county toll road and bridge authority and one for municipalities, specifically Orange Beach, were defeated in the county. Both failed by a 52 to 48 percent vote. The county authority measure was only on ballots in Baldwin County.

The Orange Beach measure was on the statewide ballot and votes outside of Baldwin County appeared to carry the measure. Several officials at first said the municipal measure could be used by Orange Beach to explore bridge options.

Not so fast.

“Basically, since the statewide municipal toll authority for Baldwin County municipalities didn’t pass in Baldwin County, it failed despite the fact that it received a majority of votes statewide,” County Commissioner Chris Elliott. “Apparently, there’s yet another constitutional amendment out there that impacts this type of occurrence. So, there will be no municipal toll authority in Baldwin County as a result of the election.”

Elliott said he was recently reminded of amendment 555 as an amendment to amendment 425 passed during the 1990s. It reads, in part:

“If the proposed amendment is submitted in a statewide referendum, it shall not become effective unless approved at a referendum by a majority of the qualified voters of the affected county voting on the proposition and the affected political subdivision voting on the proposition, if it affects less than the whole county.”

In Orange Beach, the measure would have given the city the option of setting up its own toll authority and a way to try and move forward with a second bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway. That option has been removed.

“The state is doing everything they can,” Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon said. “They just don’t have the money.”

Kennon said recently that the state has taken over negotiations with American Roads over the possibility of a second bridge over the water alongside the Foley Beach Express Bridge at The Wharf.

“ALDOT took that over and is in charge now negotiating with the bridge people,” he said. “ALDOT said it’s their decision so it’s their decision. They are the final arbiter of all roads and bridges.”

Rep. Steve McMillan, R-Gulf Shores, said the number of amendments voters in Baldwin County were confronted with on the Nov. 8 ballot – 14 statewide and five local – may have caused confusion.

“I’m sure the fact that there were so many amendments on the ballot probably affected all of them,” McMillan said. “I haven’t looked at how many people voted on the parks amendment, for example, and compare that to the ones that voted on down the line on the 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 batch.”

The Baldwin-only vote for a county toll authority, Elliott said, likely failed because of vague language on how it would be formed and operated.

“The ironic thing is, from the comments I heard, was there wasn’t enough specificity built in the amendment,” Elliott said. “It didn’t say who would be on the authority, it didn’t say what roads they were talking about. It didn’t say who had bonding authority or what public officials were going to be named to this toll authority.”

County officials were hoping to use the authority to extend the Baldwin Beach Express from 1-10 northward to an I-65 connection. McMillan and other Baldwin officials were hoping for $500 million of BP money from the state’s settlement to fund the estimated $200 million to $240 million project.

“We got $120 million and that would be half of what we need for the beach express so there wasn’t any sense in trying to do anything there,” McMillan said.

Other projects will benefit from that $120 million including the widening of Canal Road west to Gulf Shores.

Other Baldwin projects will be improvements to U.S. 31 in Spanish Fort and improvements on Alabama 181 widening that road to four lanes, first to Alabama 104 and eventually to County Road 32.

“By taking the $120 million and matching we would be able to do those three projects and it would benefit the citizens of Baldwin County,” McMillan said.