On Wednesday, the Eastern Shore Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) Policy Board met to discuss road projects throughout Baldwin County. The projects are managed both by the MPO and the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT).

There are two projects that the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) is managing in Baldwin County: widening of State Road 181 from U.S. Highway 104 to County Road 32 to four lanes and construction of a new Mobile River Bridge and Interstate 10 crossing. According to Brian Aaron with ALDOT, the 181 project is set to be completed within 45 days, though there will be more work after the road is opened.

After the Eastern Shore MPO and the Mobile MPO both voted to move forward with the construction of a new Mobile River Bridge and Bayway in July, ALDOT has been in touch with design firms. Aaron says that it anticipates having a design firm selected by February. ALDOT is also looking for more federal funding, through the Mega Grant program or the Bridge Investment Program, both run through the U.S. Department of Transportation.

In both Fairhope and Loxley, plans are moving forward on transit hubs. Though the contract to update Fairhope’s Downtown Transit Hub has been signed since 2015, the city has hit numerous political and funding snags in getting the project done. Now, the city will give notice that construction will proceed in the next few weeks, Sarah Hart Sislak, coordinator of the MPO, said. In Loxley, design plans to create a new transit hub in the city’s municipal park are about halfway complete.

There are three major projects centered in Daphne: The Eastern Shore MPO has plans to re-configure access to U.S. Highway 98 from Olde Towne Daphne, near Chik-fil-a and Target, and resurface and improve the intersection of County Road 64 and Pollard Road. Both of those projects are under review by ALDOT. The third project, widening CR 64 and improving the intersection at Montilucia Way is in the early stages: Sislak says the MPO just received authorization to acquire the right-of-way at that intersection.