The Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham (RPC) recently released a draft of their 2050 Regional Transportation Plan which details all major road projects that are currently planned for the next 26 years.

At the top of that list, cost-wise, is the long delayed Northern Beltline, which is expected to cost roughly $1.2 billion, funded by Grant Anticipation Revenue Vehicle or GARVEE bonds and money from the Appalachian Regional Council (ARC) according to the plan.

The beltline pricetag is nearly double the amount of funding expected for projects across the remainder of the region during that time period. Some $2 billion, of the $2.7 billion available in federal funding for infrastructure projects in the region will go toward upkeep and maintenance of existing infrastructure, according to the plan.

In RPC’s 2045 plan, which was written over a decade ago, an estimated $1.5 billion was dedicated to the Northern Beltline.

Gov. Kay Ivey recently announced that construction on the Northern Beltline would resume this spring with an additional $489 million in federal funding and called the project an “economic conductor” in an article by AL.com’s Greg Garrison.