The City of Orange Beach and the operator of a toll bridge near The Wharf are prioritizing profits over protecting the future of Alabama’s beaches, Gulf Shores Mayor Robert Craft alleges.

Gulf Shores is backing a state bridge project that will not alleviate beachbound traffic congestion but will provide a “private drive” to a future city high school, Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon contends.

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“The public pays the price as millions of tax dollars are wasted fighting a greedy legal battle, and the pain and danger from traffic conditions on Highway 59 worsen,” Craft said on Monday.

Kennon said he’s requested an open forum with Craft or John Cooper, the director of the Alabama Department of Transportation, to “defend their project openly in front of God and everyone.”

They won’t give me the time of day,” he added.

Squabbling leaders

The two mayors and their councils were involved in a battle of words earlier this week. The beach cities are arguing over a years-long dispute involving dueling bridge projects to Alabama’s beaches.

Craft, in a news release Monday, suggested Orange Beach is more concerned with receiving revenues generated from the existing toll bridge. Kennon, in response on Tuesday, called on Craft and others in Gulf Shores to issue a public apology for statements within the news release, which they say was filled with falsehoods.

Neither city will have a final say. The Alabama State Supreme Court is expected to determine the fate over which bridge project should get the green light.

“There is nothing we can do about it now,” Craft said at the end of the Gulf Shores City Council meeting on Monday. “If it goes against us, it goes against. Hopefully and prayerfully, (the Supreme Court) will recognize the impact it will have.”

Bridge projects

At stake is whether a third bridge should be built over the Intracoastal Waterway. Visitors to the Alabama’s beaches have only two ways to access the area: W.C. Holmes Bridge (Alabama State Route 59) through Gulf Shores or the Baldwin County Bridge Company’s toll bridge in Orange Beach.

The two proposals that are part of the legal squabble include:

• An approximately $120 million new two-lane bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway connecting to Canal Road east of the Waterway Village in Gulf Shores. The bridge is already under construction and is programmed by the Alabama Department of Transportation. It is supported by Gulf Shores city officials.
• An alterative proposal pitched by the Baldwin County Bridge Company – the private entity that owns and operates the toll bridge near The Wharf – includes building two new lanes on the existing bridge, expanding the number of toll plazas and making $70 million in additional infrastructure improvements for Gulf Shores and Orange Beach. This project is backed by Orange Beach officials.

The state’s highest court is considering an appeal of a Montgomery County judge’s ruling in May to halt the construction of the Gulf Shores bridge, which is located approximately 1 mile to the west of the BCBC toll bridge.

Construction had been underway for several months after the state OK’d a contract with the Scott Bridge Company to move forward on the project before it became entangled in a bench trail before Judge Jimmy Pool.

Pool, in his May 17 ruling, slammed Cooper, the director of ALDOT, for engaging in what he said was a long effort to put BCBC out of business.

Legal briefs to the state Supreme Court were filed by ALDOT and BCBC last week. In addition, amicus briefs were filed by the cities of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach.

Revenues or access

Gulf Shores, on Monday, published a release on its website that listed information surrounding the case and a defense of the city’s position on supporting the new ALDOT bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway.

The comments in the news release matched much of what was included in the city’s legal briefing. That legal document includes a claim that Orange Beach has “direct proprietary economic interest” in BCBC’s toll bridge because the city receives 30 cents per vehicle that crosses over the toll bridge.

Within ALDOT’s legal briefing, the state argued that Orange Beach stands to gain $60 million if the alternative BCBC plan is adopted.

Kennon said the city is not looking at the bridge issue as a money-maker. He said the revenues generated from having the private toll bridge within the city consist of a very small amount of Orange Beach’s overall annual budget.

“It’s not about the money,” Kennon said. “(The revenue) is about 1 percent of our total budget. The people of Orange Beach would rather (forgo) the 1 percent and have a much more free-flowing traffic pattern.”

Craft also says that BCBC, though its negotiations, is attempting to lock in a “50-year monopoly” of “total control” over the fate of future bridge projects in the area.

Kennon said that is not true. He said there were no provisions within the negotiations about a “no compete clause” with BCBC.

“I don’t know how a mayor in the state of Alabama gets away with putting out a press release that is totally untrue,” Kennon said at Tuesday’s Orange Beach City Council meeting.

Kennon also said there was no truth to arguments that the future toll fees will be unregulated and assessed only by BCBC. He said negotiations showed that Baldwin County residents would be able to use the private bridge without having to pay a toll. The current toll is $2.25.

ALDOT lawyers say that what BCBC is asking is illegal and unconstitutional. Among the concerns is a potential violation to the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution for waiving tolls for all residents in Baldwin County, which ALDOT claims is discriminatory.

Evacuation route

Craft and Kennon also dispute whether the bridge will relieve traffic congestion. Kennon calls it “laughable” that the two-lane span will provide an adequate hurricane route, saying he believes it will make traffic leaving “the island much worse.”

Kennon said there are several interchanges on the state route north of the Gulf Shores bridge that will slow traffic leaving the island.

He said the city wants to see the bridge built, alleging that a new state road to the bridge will run near a future city high school that is targeted to open to students by 2025.

Orange Beach City Councilman Jerry Johnson said a better solution is to spend state money on improving the Baldwin Beach Express and extending it northward from Interstate 10 near Loxley to Interstate 65.

But Gulf Shores City Councilman Steve Jones said a new bridge over the Intercoastal Waterway – without any concrete pillars in the water – provides an emergency route in case the other two existing bridges are out of commission if a barge collides with them.

“Any or both of those bridges could be taken out with a storm,” said Jones. “This bridge won’t be in danger of being struck. If for no other reason, this bridge needs to be built.”

Craft said without any resolution, congestion will continue to build and erode the safety and quality of life of the growing area that consists of 40% of the state’s overall tourism revenue.

“The existing traffic conditions on Highway 59 are dangerous,” he said, adding that the difficulty of building a new bridge “impedes critical access to healthcare and poses a significant threat in any hurricane evacuation.”

“ALDOT’s new bridge would help alleviate every one of these challenges the very first day it is open,” he said.