Fourteen state transportation contracts valued at more than $112.5 million are on hold along with agreements to continue with the design of the West Alabama Highway corridor after two state lawmakers disputed the project on Thursday.

State Senator Chris Elliott, R-Josephine, and State Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, requested the state transportation projects be held up for at least one week until representatives with the Alabama Department of Transportation met with the lawmakers to further discuss the West Alabama project.

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Elliott claimed his concerns are with the lack of financial details on a project he worries could be much more expensive than ALDOT initially claimed. England said the project was being held up because it predominately runs through Alabama’s Black Belt region – a rural, mostly poor area of the state with a sizable population that is Black.

“At the end of the day, I’m trying to get more information out of ALDOT,” Elliott said after a meeting of the legislative contract review committee held at the Statehouse in Montgomery. “We’re back and forth on the funding for the West Alabama project and the reasoning behind it.”

Said England, “I don’t want to pit different areas of the state against each other and say this project is more important and, once again, where there are a lot of poor folks and Black folks, we have to now wait and see if they are worthy enough for the same investment that is going on in other parts of the state.”

Elliott said his position is not about arguing the validity of the overall West Alabama Highway corridor. He said his concerns were mostly with the state’s financial strategy of borrowing against future fuel tax revenues to pay for it. And Elliott said he is also concerned there are no new cost estimates for the overall project that includes adding two additional lands from Thomasville north to Linden on U.S. 43 and going further northward to Moundville on Alabama State Route 69.

The corridor’s goal, according to supporters, is to serve as an alternative highway to Interstate 65 from Mobile north to Tuscaloosa and toward Florence. Critics say the money for it could be better spent on adding lanes to I-65 from the Tennessee-Alabama line to Mobile.

“(England) was like this is an us versus them thing,” Elliott said to AL.com. “That’s not the issue. The issue is that this is a 100 percent state funded U.S. Highway, and whether that is a good idea (to pursue) in the most expensive bond market in recent time. There is a concern on maxing out the state credit card.”

Holding projects

Elliott was the first to request a hold on a transportation project when he asked to postpone the approval of a $75 million contract with Birmingham-based Brasfield & Gorie LLC, for design work on the highway.

He asked for the hold after not receiving a full cost estimate on the approximately 80-mile project.

England said lawmakers are “counting pennies” on the West Alabama project while other major road projects – namely the Interstate 10 Mobile River Bridge and Bayway project connecting Mobile and Baldwin counties – is proceeding with state funding.

“Any further delay (on the West Alabama Highway project) is a reason down the road to say, ‘we can’t do it because it will cost more,’” said England.

“If we are delaying this project or trying to figure out if we have enough money to invest in the Black Belt, you might as well mark my name as holding the rest of the (transportation contracts),” England said, before requesting a hold on the rest of the transportation projects for at least one week. “At some point, we have to stop ignoring the Black Belt.”

Cost concerns

Clay McBrien, assistant chief engineer of policy and planning with ALDOT, confirmed there is no overall cost estimate for the West Alabama Highway corridor, and that construction estimates on certain sections scheduled to move forward might not be known until next spring.

The project is considered a progressive design-build in which the state will negotiate and execute design and engineering contracts first before proceeding with construction. The project will be handled in sections – not all at once – and has no definitive timetable for completion.

“It may be $1 billion, it may be $1.1 billion,” McBrien said, acknowledging the project’s estimate one year ago was around $800 million. “We won’t know until we get into the actual design. You look at each segment and negotiate a price. If this thing gets out of hand (with construction costs), we are not locked in.”

He said once a segment is completed, the state can open the new lanes to traffic while another segment is under construction.

“You might pay more up front on design but on the backside of construction, instead of taking 15-20 years to get something done and seeing the costs continue to increase, you can base (the project) over the next few years,” McBrien said.

Elliott said he was concerned the overall costs were nearly $1.5 billion, and that the project’s support from Gov. Kay Ivey’s administration could elevate it above other transportation projects that some lawmakers believe should be a great priority. Elliott and Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth are advocating for additional lanes along Interstate 65 from the Tennessee Valley south to the Mobile area.

Elliott said he is worried about ALDOT borrowing on future gas tax money and hampering future administrations from pursuing their transportation priorities. He also criticized the state for not pursuing any federal funding to pay for it.

McBrien said the state could borrow up to 30 to 35 percent on the future fuel tax revenues, though he said he was unsure exactly how much might be financed until the cost estimates were known.

“If this project does not cost $700 million but is instead $1.4 billion, they are going to max out the credit card to do it,” Elliott said.

England said that costs are not an issue for bigger ticket projects that have the state’s backing, citing the $2.9 billion I-10 project between Mobile and Baldwin counties, and future wishes to add lanes to I-65.

“We’ll make those happen,” said England. “But when it goes to the Black Belt, things change.”

He added, “(The West Alabama Highway corridor) is a vital project that connects two major cities that are growing and attracts more people to travel this corridor instead of leaving and going to a better roadway. It brings economic development to an area historically ignored.”

Talk of the state

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The dispute in Montgomery capped a week in which the West Alabama Highway corridor has been the topic of debate among Alabama officials.

Mayors, state lawmakers and other public officials gathered on Tuesday in Thomasville to advocate for the project they claim is over 50 years in the making. Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth, who claims there are other more pressing transportation priorities in Alabama, met with Thomasville Mayor Sheldon Day on Wednesday to discuss the issue.

Ainsworth, in a statement Thursday, said the West Alabama Highway corridor project has merit and “needs to be completed when a proper funding model is in place.”

He, like Elliott, said he was concerned about committing more than $1 billion into a project funded solely by the state and without a federal match.

“Using state dollars alone and creating a 20-year bond debt cannot be justified from a fiscal, policy or even commonsense perspective,” Ainsworth said. “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.”

Day, mayor of Thomasville since 1996 – and who has praised Ivey for being the first governor in 50 years to move forward on the West Alabama Highway corridor – said he’s confident Alabama is capable of building “more than one road at one time.”

His comments come after Ivey, in a statement on Tuesday, said that proceeding with the West Alabama Highway corridor and widening of I-65 should not be viewed as an “either or” proposition.

Day also noted that construction on the West Alabama Highway corridor was already underway in Linden, where an eight-mile bypass has been moving forward since ground was broken on it in 2021.

“We have some really innovative things we are doing here and we know in our hearts this new highway will allow us to lift up our neighbors and bring prosperity to our region and our state like we have never seen,” Day said. “More than anything, we know if we all pull together in our state and region, we can become an Alabama that we can all be proud of … one where the No. 1 export is valuable goods and services instead of our children.”

He also invited Elliott to visit him in Thomasville and learn more about their interests. Elliott said he was unaware of the invitation but added “I’d love to go see Sheldon.”