GULF SHORES, AL – There’s no denying the abrupt, without-warning closure of State Park Road 2 in Gulf State Park came as a shock to local officials.

“I am upset that we are here,” Gulf Shores Mayor Robert Craft. “Closing State Park Road 2 is going to make our traffic worse. And it’s not just going to make it worse for us, it’s going to make it worse for our guests, too.”

All that aside, Craft, in the early hours of April 18, began to contemplate what else the closure of the park road could mean, besides increased traffic on already busy Alabama 59, the traffic heart of his city. 

“But I’m also practical enough to know they don’t have to ask us a thing in that park,” he said. “They don’t have to deal with any of our zoning issues or any of our impact issues. They are totally autonomous, they can do anything they want.”

And what they are doing does have an impact on traffic in both island cities, Gulf Shores and Orange Beach. Craft hopes this fact will be help spur the settlement of the larger, overall problem.

“So let’s recognize that and see if we can’t solve the bigger problem,” Craft said. “And if we can come to that conclusion that’s way more important than State Park Road 2. State Park Road 2 is an inconvenience and it’s a problem, but it’s a symptom. It wouldn’t be an issue if we didn’t have traffic problems. It’s only an issue because we have traffic issues and no solution.”

Craft hopes this symptom, which effectively cuts available north-south corridors on the island from four down to three, will be the impetus to providing a solution.

“We need a chance to solve the big problem and the big problem is not State Park Road 2,” he said. “The big problem is the overall traffic strategy and the opportunities we have. And it’s north-south corridors. We’ve got to have partners to get that done. 

“The state park touches (Alabama) 59 and (Alabama) 161 so for us to ever get another north-south corridor through the park it’s going to have to be with their help. We’re not going to do that against their wishes.”

A memo from someone who works in an office in Boston was able to shut down the well-used north-south artery through Gulf State Park.

State park officials contacted said they could not comment on the closure and nor could officials in Montgomery. The only statement on the closing of the road, Gulf Coast Media was told, would be the memo from Associate Jill Dixon at Sasaki and Associates, a design firm is based in Boston.

Sasaki is the lead entity on the Gulf State Park Project which will prominently include the rebuilding of the beachfront lodge destroyed in Hurricane Ivan in 2004. The state park road closure is part a trail enhancements that is part of the group’s plan.

The memo from Dixon states the project has been developed “with community input through five public open houses, 12 stakeholder meetings, and over 2,600 responses to an online survey.”

But nowhere in the materials released by the group does it say State Park Road 2 would be permanently closed in its center section. The only mention of State Park Road 2 in renderings in an overview for master plan elements states:

State Park Road 2 Conversion.

“That’s sad,” Craft said. “That’s the first time I’ve had a problem with being completely left out of the loop. I’ve had pretty good communication with this group up until this. I was surprised and certainly disturbed at the whole deal as we all were.

“This is not a step forward. This is a step backward in our relationship with them.”

He and other city leaders noticed the “State Park Road 2 Conversion” indicator but had no idea what that meant. He says they were told work in that area would be a part of Phase II.

“We were concerned about but it was so premature and so vague that we had not had time to react to it,” Craft said. “We really didn’t think we had to have time on a Phase II project that was just recently even discussed.”

The entire project is proceeding under the shadow of two lawsuits, one contesting the use of $58.5 million of National Recovery Damage Assessment money, provided from BP oil spill fine money.

The other is one brought by former Director of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Charles Grimsley. His suit claims BP funds paid directly to the state are also being illegally spent on the lodge project.