Commission postpones toll hearing

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BAY MINETTE – County commissioners postponed the first public hearing to discuss the extension of the Baldwin Beach Express north to Interstate 65 following requests by groups wanting to address the issue.

The hearing had been set for June 27 at the Baldwin County Coliseum in Robertsdale. At the end of the commission meeting Tuesday, commissioners announced that the hearing will be rescheduled after groups interested in speaking at the event wanted more time to prepare and study data.

“There are a lot of questions and we’re working to get all the information we can on this,” Commission Chairman Charles “Skip” Gruber said.

Commissioners proposed a toll on the new highway to pay the cost of extending the road 24 miles north from Interstate 10, where it now ends east of Loxley, to Interstate 65 near Bay Minette. The estimated cost of the project is $200 million.

Gruber said that without funding from a toll, the county does not have the money for the project. He said state and federal funding is also not available.

“This is the last chance for the expressway,” he said. “If we don’t get this, it’ll never be done, at least in my opinion.”

Earlier this year, the Alabama Legislature passed a local constitutional amendment to allow Baldwin voters to decide if the county could create a toll authority. If approved, the authority could set a toll on the new highway in order to pay the cost of construction.

Commissioner Joe Davis said that opponents of the toll are making inaccurate statements about the project, such as a claim that approving a toll authority would allow the county to set tolls on roads that are already built and now being used for free. “The naysayers are already at work,” he said. “They’re saying we’ll put tolls all the way south from the interstate (10) and that’s not true.”

Commissioner said the bill allows a toll only on the new section of the Beach Express and no other roads.

The referendum will be held in 2020 in either the primary or general election in November.

Commissioners said in a work session that the timing of the toll proposal for the Beach Express has confused some residents. The project has nothing to do with the toll proposal for a bridge planned over the Mobile River and the replacement for the I-10 Bayway.

Commissioners also said that the county’s share from new state fuel tax would also not be enough to pay for the Beach Express.

Officials also said at the June 11 work session that all highways now being used without tolls, including Alabama 59 and the Beach Express south of I-10 would continue to be used without charge.

Commissioners said they plan to hold several public meetings around Baldwin County to discuss the Beach Express.

toll, Beach Express, Baldwin County Commission