Alabama's bypass to the beach, a 'top priority' project, revived with BP money

AL.com ^ | October 5, 2016 | John Sharp

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

With $65 million in new money thanks to the state's BP settlement, the long-beleaguered U.S. 98 project in coastal Alabama has a new life, but officials are proceeding cautiously.

It was nearly a decade ago when a previous U.S. 98 project was shut down amid lawsuits and accusations surrounding sediment from the construction site that ran off into the waterways supplying a majority of the Mobile region's drinking water.

"The job has been redesigned," said Vince Calametti, ALDOT's Southwest Region's chief engineer. "There was an environmental assessment, and it will have to be re-evaluated. It will be one of the first things we get done."

Said Rick Courtney, a Mobile attorney who represented Mobile Baykeeper – an environmental organization that was involved in the dispute years ago: "We hope they pay heed to the lessons learned."

Latest plans

ALDOT officials, including Secretary John Cooper, met with state lawmakers in Mobile on Monday to discuss the latest U.S. 98 bypass plans.

What lawmakers learned is that the project will be piecemealed and constructed in sections. And instead of a four-lane thoroughfare, the road will be paved for two lanes only.

A total of $110 million will be dedicated to the 12-mile bypass – which will be an extension of Ala. 158 from the Mississippi-Alabama line to Schillinger Road. The BP deal will supply $65 million, and ALDOT's 2019 and 2020 budgets will appropriate around $50 million.

Calametti is confident that the project, as a two-lane road, will get built and serve as an alternate route to U.S. 98, which is the main state highway that transports tourists and truckers through Mobile County toward Alabama's beaches and into Florida. Long ago, it was given the ominous nickname "Bloody 98" because of the deadly crashes that often occurred there.

Calametti said his team is focused on the project's initial phases, which could be under construction as early as next summer. Those are Schillinger to Lott Road, which is about a three- or four-mile extension of new roadway, and Lott Road to McCrary Road.

"They are the projects that are almost completely designed," said Calametti. "We can get shovels into the ground very quickly."

He said that there's sufficient funding to complete drainage and grading for a four-lane road to the Mississippi line. But paving the road into a four-lane highway will have to wait, he said.

"This is something that is not unheard of and happens quite regularly," Calametti said about preparing for a four-lane road but only building two lanes. "When Rangeline Road was first built, it was graded and drained for four lanes but two lanes were originally opened. Some years later, the other two lanes were paved."

The newer extensions will tie into an already-finished eight-mile stretch, which has long been dubbed the "road to nowhere" because it doesn't connect with anything. That extension, which cost the state around $80 million, was stopped amid the environmental concerns that publicly surfaced in 2007.

Before any new construction can take place, a new environmental assessment will have to be completed.

And the pressure is on to get it right this time, especially after local lawmakers fought last month in Montgomery to secure $65 million of BP funds – all of which was dedicated to U.S. 98, despite wishes elsewhere in the region for road projects to stem rising congestion.

The road money from Alabama's $1 billion BP settlement was approved during last month's special legislative session, after the coast fended off demands by north Alabama lawmakers to pour all of the dollars into paying down the state's debts.

"The pressure remains on all of us ... the city, the county, the Legislature and the governor and ALDOT because it is not done yet," said state Sen. Bill Hightower, R-Mobile, and a leading lawmaker in efforts to dedicate a portion of the BP settlement for roadwork.

Skepticism and hope

Meanwhile, there's still skepticism about the project at the grass-roots level, particularly around the Wilmer area.

Among the doubters is Larry Godfrey, the longtime owner of a campground where some of the previous construction problems and silt runoff occurred. 

"If four lanes are put in during your lifetime ... I don't believe it will happen," said Godfrey, who at age 72, is attempting to sell the Escatawapa Hollow Campground. "My experience with ALDOT is they won't tell you the truth."

The following map, from the Alabama Department of Transportation, shows the future route of Ala. 158 bypass from U.S. 98. (www.safe98.com)

The previous U.S. 98 project, which was under way in the mid-2000s, was halted after the Press-Register documented numerous state and federal environmental violations. Among the findings was massive mud fouling the Escatawapa River, several creeks and Big Creek Lake, the region's main drinking water source.

A lack of funding prevented the estimated $180 million project from restarting under a new design before the BP money surfaced.

Also, from a public standpoint, the project began to take a back seat to other larger and more high-profile construction jobs, namely a long-dreamed $850 million Interstate 10 Bridge and Bayway expansion across Mobile Bay. Godfrey thinks that this intentional on ALDOT's part: "It's way under the radar. And they want to keep it under the radar."

But ALDOT and state lawmakers have never wavered in describing U.S. 98 as the No. 1 priority. Even northern lawmakers, who pushed against awarding BP compensation to roads, believe that wrapping up the U.S. 98 bypass will elevate their projects to the top of the priority heap.

U.S. 98 is among the most dangerous roads in the region, with more than 50 fatal crashes occurring from 1995-2008 on the 17-mile stretch from U.S. 98 from the Mississippi-Alabama line to the Mobile city limits.

Tiffany Waite, who recently purchased a local landmark general store called Snuffy Smith's near Wilmer, is concerned about the fast-moving truck traffic that roars by. "You really can't pull out of here. It's really dangerous," she said.

Jacob Crason, who recently moved into a house on U.S. 98 near the store, said there is too much truck traffic on the highway. Once U.S. 98 traverses into Mississippi, it widens to four lanes. Mississippi, in the 1980s, approved a highway spending plan that established a four-lane U.S. 98 from Hattiesburg to the Alabama line.

"It's like Mississippi built it but Alabama didn't want to finish it," said Crason. "Apparently, Alabama is too cheap."

But with the money now available, and plans in place to ensure environmental compliance, confidence is rising that the project will forge ahead successfully.

Semmes Mayor-elect David Baker said his constituents feel like the bypass is on the right track. "I don't believe they ever gave up hope," he said. "There are basically frustrations that it's taken so long. But they believed at some point, the construction and road would come to light again."

[blam]

- Roll Tide -

[Rembrandt]

I’ve long believed that BP should change its name from BP to a name Leftists would feel more comfortable with, something like Commie Energy, for example.

[political1]

They need to fix the roads they have. If they do that correctly, there will be no need to build new roads down there.