Opportunity Zone

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey attended the official opening of Abbeville Fiber LLC, a state-of-the-art sawmill that will employ 115 people in Henry County once the facility is fully staffed. The $40 million investment is the largest economic development project in the county’s history, with $40 million invested to date. “What I have seen here today … Continued

On Wednesday, local Baldwin County elected officials voted “effectively” to kill the Mobile River Bridge project. The Eastern Shore Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) met to vote on its Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP), which establishes the area’s transportation priorities from 2020 to 2023. For a decade, Mobile and Baldwin County officials have been asking federal and … Continued

A bad month for the governor’s Mobile River bridge proposal got even worse on Thursday, Aug. 1, when the Legislature’s contract review committee placed a hold on the Alabama Department of Transportation’s contract with Birmingham law firm Maynard, Cooper and Gale. The panel is tasked with reviewing all state contracts. The $750,000 contract is for … Continued

On Monday, the Alabama Department of Transportation launched its own “Mythbusters” campaign to counter the efforts of the tens of thousands of community activists who are opposing the ALDOT plan to fund the bridge through a private, public partnership that would allow the conglomerate to toll interstate 10 bridge users for the next 50 years. … Continued

The Alabama Department of Transportation is not holding many listening sessions to see what the people of Alabama are thinking about their proposed I-10 toll bridge connecting Mobile and Baldwin counties. Since the Legislature passed enabling legislation for ALDOT to grant private toll operators the power to take away motorists’ automobile registrations for failing to … Continued

Baldwin County voters are going to be able to go to the polls to vote on whether to approve a constitutional amendment allowing the construction of a toll road extending the Baldwin Beach Express from Interstate 10 to Interstate 65. The new 24 miles of road will go from Loxley where the existing Beach Express … Continued

A public hearing was finally held after years without one on the controversial plan to build a massive toll bridge across the Mobile River. A number of critics raised concerns about the plan that would contract with a private company to build the I-10 bridge connecting Mobile and Baldwin Counties. The company would then collect … Continued

The Alabama House of Representatives passed the Alabama Incentives Modernization Act on Thursday to improve the way that the state uses economic incentives. More specifically, this bill would add new tools for the attraction and expansion of businesses in rural Alabama as well as in federally designated Opportunity Zones. It also targets attracting technology companies. … Continued