Laura Lane and Doug Snow: For whom the bridge tolls, an expose of big government run amok
In general, the fuel tax pays for our ordinary highways today. Given this, tolls should be used to pay for some privilege. The Beach Express in Orange Beach provided an alternative to Highway 59, a non-tolled route. It gave people who chose to pay a toll a privileged ride. This is an appropriate use of tolling. Toll roads are most definitely a libertarian stance; we advocate that all public services be funded in a voluntary manner. Then, along comes the current AL legislature and, under the leadership of Kay Ivey, proceeds to RAIP the citizens. Portions of the RAIP plan go into effect in September, mainly the gas tax which increases the current rate by 10 cents. The plan was touted as needed to pay for infrastructure upgrades to bridges and roads. Then, Ivey admitted to a local area news station that the legislators were coached on the plan and those that weren’t in agreement were not encouraged to run for office. After the passage of the RAIP, one of the first things Ivey said was that the first monies coming in from the gas tax would be allocated to the Port of Mobile for dredging and widening of the channel. Now, Ivey, through Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT), is trying to force a toll bridge onto the citizens of Mobile and Baldwin counties. This plan calls for the toll project to commandeer the Wallace Tunnel and Bay Way, existing portions of I-10. The tunnel will become part of the new toll project, but the existing Bay Way will be torn down. The tunnel and Bay Way have already been paid for by the citizens using Federal and State fuel taxes. It is an unfair double taxation to commandeer those structures and toll them. This misappropriation amounts to the initiation of force to achieve political goals. The people have already paid for the Wallace Tunnel and Bay Way and now they are being taken away from their rightful owners. In contrast, the toll plan for Mobile destroys the route the people have paid for with their fuel tax in order to drive people onto the tolled route. They offer the Causeway ( a portion US Hwy 90) and the Cochrane Bridge as alternatives. This is an insult to the people of Alabama for ALDOT to pretend the Causeway is a viable non-tolled route. The insult of misinformation is repeated often in the plan to privatize the Bridge. ALDOT has hired Allison Gregg to head up a massive public relations campaign to sell the toll to the people of Alabama. It is not the function of the government to sell its ideas to the people. It is the proper function of government to prudently implement the ideas of the people. Many people who follow the Mobile River Bridge and Bay Way toll project accuse the State of Alabama elected officials and bureaucrats of corruption. This is not a claim to be made lightly and the Libertarian Party of Alabama and Citizens for Government Accountability make no such claim. Still, state government has created an atmosphere favorable to corruption. The state legislature created the Alabama Toll Road, Bridge and Tunnel Authority to oversee all toll projects in the State of Alabama. The function of this Authority is oversight of state bureaucracies. The entire Authority is appointed by the Governor. John Cooper, the Director of Transportation for Alabama and head of ALDOT is on that Authority. This lack of independence is an accommodation to corruption. Transparency and accountability are lacking and cannot be enforced without some type of Initiative and Referendum in place for the State. State funds belong to the taxpayers. It is foundational that our government be responsible stewards of those funds. Here are disturbing facets of the Mobile River Bridge and Bay Way toll project itself: • The state will enter a 55-year deal.• The state has limited non tolled crossing of Mobile River and Bay to the Causeway only. The Bankhead tunnel leading from Downtown to the Causeway is only one lane in each direction. Traffic jams and delays are planned obstacles to using the non toll route that are expected to force people to pay a toll to cross.• Although the proposed toll would be $6, the toll operator is allowed to add a 40% surcharge for processing the invoice for the toll.• The planned deal is extremely complicated with many unacceptable risk points.• Road and Bridge private funding is very prone to bankruptcy.• Bids that lose will receive up to $2 million in reimbursement. This toll road is wholly unacceptable to the people of Alabama and should be immediately stopped. Alabama’s own State Auditor, Jim Zeigler, has presented information that shows there is money available for this project and is leading a group of over 52,000 Alabama residents in opposition to this plan. But what’s the backstory here? Something is going on to make this bridge…this TOLL bridge such an urgent issue for the current State leadership. So let’s take a look at this proposed toll bridge and the history behind this 20-plus year fiasco. From the beginning, frequent travelers of I-10 that use the Wallace tunnels and Bay Way have voiced complaints about the entrance to the tunnels; both East and West sides have fairly sharp turns leading into the tunnels, along with on-ramps from local streets. As the population has grown and more residents are traveling to either side of the Bay for employment, congestion and accidents have gotten worse. They say hindsight is 20/20. ALDOT and the designers of the Wallace Tunnel and Bay Way were definitely short-sighted. Both should have planned for growth and made them capable of handling, at a minimum, three lanes of traffic both ways. The Federal government had put in $27 million in transportation funding in the 1990’s for a project that would have fixed the issue of the sharp turns and on ramps at the entrances to the Wallace Tunnels. The project was given in the green
