Steve Flowers
Many of you took some road trips on Memorial Day, which no doubt generated some complaints and discussion about the poor condition of Alabama’s roads. Most of you had to travel on I-65 to get somewhere. The majority of Alabamians live along I-65.
I-65 is about 366 miles from the Tennessee-Alabama border to Mobile. It’s a nightmare. I know all too well the frustration of being stuck on this highway. I drive I-65 from Montgomery to Birmingham at least 100 times a year. I’d say four times out of 10 I end up in a parking lot. I’m late for important meetings and TV interviews. Over the last few years, I’ve learned to leave an hour early to anticipate being late. When I call to apologize for being late, I end the call by saying that if there’s a worse road in the country, I’d love to see it.
In fact, I-65 south of Hoover is the busiest road in the state, carrying an average of 130,000 vehicles per day according to ALDOTS traffic counts. Many of you, including Lt. Governor Will Ainsworth, have experienced the I-65 nightmare.
The Lieutenant Governor and a majority of State Senators have advocated for widening the entire I-65 corridor to six lanes. The Alabama Senate recently approved a resolution calling on the Alabama Department of Transportation to prioritize improvements and increased capacity along I-65. This must be a priority for our state. As the state’s main highway, I-65 is used by tourists, truckers, business people, and Alabamians who get from point A to point B on time to go about their daily lives. When people are stuck on I-65 for hours, it hurts tourism, our economy, and industrial jobs.
As a defender of Governor Kay Ivey, she has worked hard to improve the condition of Alabama’s roads. She made the passage of a gas tax a priority of her administration and her time in office. She has made her mark by rebuilding Alabama with her gas tax and road building efforts.
She was criticized by some for raising taxes, but she demonstrated political courage and statesmanship, and understood that infrastructure was necessary to keep up with other states in growth and economic development.
But maybe we’re not doing enough. Maybe we’re not catching up with other states. If we’re going to be criticized for raising prices by 10 cents a gallon, we should have aimed for a 20-cent increase, so we could compete with sister states like Florida.
An incredibly surprising fact came to my eye recently: The Florida Department of Transportation has 10 divisions, and all 10 have the same amount of funding. The Florida Panhandle region, which borders Alabama, is one of those 10 divisions. The Florida Panhandle region alone has more funding than the entire highway budget for the state of Alabama.
Florida built four lanes from the coast to near the Alabama border and is waiting for Alabama to build the four lanes of I-167 through Enterprise to the 231 in Troy. Many of you who traveled to the Florida coast this weekend were hoping the four lanes would be completed and I-65 would become six lanes.
Speaking of the Florida coast, for years students and readers of political history have asked me why the Florida Panhandle is not part of Alabama. When you look at a map, it looks like the Panhandle is part of our state. In fact, politically, demographically, and topographically, the Florida Panhandle and southern Alabama are the same thing.
The answer is that over a century ago we were offered the entire Panhandle, including the beaches and coastline, many times for almost nothing. We refused it. At that time the South, and especially Alabama, was entirely agriculturally oriented. It was all about whether you could grow crops on the land. People looked at the sand and dense shrubs in the sparsely undeveloped area and said anyone who wanted the land was crazy. Plus, the land was occupied by Seminole Indians, and they were brave and defended their territory. Alabamians absolutely refused to fight the Seminole Indians and the thorny shrubs for land that was just sand and couldn’t grow anything on it.
Well, that sand and beaches are now worth something: As many as one million people are projected to move to Southwest Florida within the next seven years.
see you next week.
Steve Flowers is Alabama’s leading political columnist. His weekly column appears in over 60 newspapers across Alabama. He served as a state representative for 16 years. Steve can be contacted at [email protected].
