England Moves To Hold ALDOT Contracts After West AL Corridor Project Stalled

TUSCALOOSA, AL — State Rep. Chris England, a Democrat from Tuscaloosa and member of the legislature's joint Contract Review Legislative Oversight Committee, drew a line in the legislative sand Thursday after a Republican lawmaker and fellow committee member successfully stalled the approval of state gas tax funding for the highly anticipated West Alabama Corridor project.

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Alabama Daily News Editor Mary Sell reported Thursday that Sen. Chris Elliott, a Republican from Baldwin County, cited concerns about costs before successfully pushing for a hold on a project that would add much-needed lanes to U.S. Highway 43 and Alabama Highway 69 to complete a four-lane corridor stretching approximately 80 miles.

In response, England — exercising his authority to hold ALDOT contacts as a sole member of the committee — took a stand to hold contracts for any upcoming state infrastructure projects coming through the influential committee. As he explained, the project would benefit the entire state, not just his district or the Black Belt.

"The state of Alabama has to stop ignoring the Black Belt," England told Patch. "And, also, people don't want to move to places that don't have good infrastructure. We pay taxes here, we buy gas here, we've invested in the roads. If we're gonna start pitting areas of the state against each other for investments — if you're gonna stop that one [project], I'm gonna stop them all and I held up all the other transportation contracts."

Alabama Daily News also cited the Alabama Department of Transportation's estimate that the total cost of the West Alabama Corridor project would be in the ballpark of $1 billion.

The timing of the political theatrics is worth noting, too, as it comes after a Tuesday press conference when more than a dozen west Alabama elected officials gathered in Thomasville to voice their strong support for the highway expansion — one that many insist would be a major economic boon for those in its footprint.

The presser was headlined by Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson, Thomasville Mayor Sheldon Day and Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox.

"The West Alabama Corridor could open up a vital artery for all of west Alabama," Chamber of Commerce of West Alabama President and CEO Kyle South told Patch of the project. "Economic development relies so much on the capacity of the infrastructure and the portions affected by this investment have been passed over for far too long. Beyond that, even growth areas like Tuscaloosa and Mobile. The state ports would be especially benefitted."

During the media appearance, the leaders touted the possible economic opportunities for the region by improving infrastructure while adding a new north-south route in the state.

The project is a long time coming, following an initial groundbreaking in November 2021.

Still, Elliott took critical aim at the $760 million price tag for the effort. This, as most in the West Alabama delegation pointed out massive infrastructure projects currently underway in the lawmaker's district.

Also in Elliott's corner was Alabama Republican Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth, said it was evident during his visit to Thomasville that the West Alabama Corridor Project has merit and needs to be completed when the proper funding model is in place.

"My concern is committing $1.3 billion or more of purely state dollars to the project with absolutely zero federal matching funds being provided," Ainsworth said in a statement. "Using state dollars alone and creating a 20-year bond debt cannot be justified from a fiscal, policy, or even common sense perspective. Committing such a large amount of state dollars also takes away funding that could be used for other needed projects across the state, including the widening of I-65."

State Sen. Bobby Singleton, a Democrat from Greensboro, echoed England's point that blocking the project completely cuts out the Black Belt from future economic development that had been all but ensured and supported by Republican Gov. Kay Ivey.

"Industry doesn't come to our district because we don't have a transportation vein," Singleton said. "But if you've got roads, you've got water and sewer, cities on that corridor can grow and have businesses."

The funding for the project is expected to come from revenue generated by the state gas tax — a legacy piece of policy for Ivey geared toward improving the entire state's infrastructure.

At the end of Thursday's discussions, however, Committee Chair Sen. Dan Roberts, a Republican who represents parts of Jefferson and Shelby counties, allowed the hold on the funding for the project but said legislators and ALDOT officials would meet next week for further discussions and, possibly, removal of the hold.

"Alabama is about to have the deepest dock in the Gulf of Mexico when it's completed," state Rep. Curtis Travis, a Democrat from Tuscaloosa, lamented about the stalled highway expansion. "We can handle some of the biggest ships that come in, bigger than New Orleans. This means in past years, when we saw those cargo ships off the coast in California, we could bring them here and we have the rail capacity to get most things somewhere within 24-48 hours. We need that connectivity to cross the Black Belt and to the interstate system. "

While the political scrap seems to only be beginning over the West Alabama Corridor project, support for the highway expansion has seemingly bipartisan support from the local delegation.

And with England being a senior member of the local delegation, he says he intends to stand his ground for not just the people who elected him, but all of those who will be positively impacted if the infrastructure project comes to fruition.

"I thought it was Rebuild Alabama," England joked about the infrastructure initiative funded by the recently implemented state gas tax. "The last time I checked, we're in Alabama and have road needs in west Alabama."

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