County Commissioners To Vote on $54 Million Infrastructure Program

Posted on: Sep 8th, 2014 | News and Announcements

The Mobile County Commission Monday will vote on a $54 million Pay-As-You-Go road improvement program today that will upgrade roadways in every Mobile County municipality and the unincorporated areas. The program will go to a vote of county registered voters at the November 4 general election. The Mobile County Commission will vote on the program at a meeting at 10 a.m. today in the auditorium of Government Plaza. The agenda item calls for a $54 million in county funding, but the projects will include another $12 million in state of Alabama contributions, bringing the total program to $66 million. The Mobile County Pay-As-You-Go Program features a method of financing road improvements that allows the county to pay for road and bridge improvements with no new taxes and no borrowed money. Instead, the improvements are financed through funds collected in advance of each road program. The 2014 proposal is the 15th Pay-As-You-Go program since the county inaugurated the program in 1977. All previous 14 programs have been approved by voters. The 2014 program will bring upgrades to 94 miles of roadway and it will include the reconstruction of two new bridges, one on Padget Switch Road over Carls Creek in Bayou La Batre and the other on Wilmer-Georgetown Road over Big Creek. All 11 municipalities in the county will benefit from the program, with multiple upgrades to roadways in all of them. The city of Mobile, the biggest of the cities in Mobile County, will see improvements on 33 miles of roadway through the county?s 2014 Pay-As-You-Go Program. ?We are making our best effort to be proactive in building our infrastructure of roads,? said County Commission President Connie Hudson. ?Fortunately, we have a funding program to assure continuity of improvements to our roads.? Mobile Commissioner Merceria Ludgood said that the Pay-As-You-Go Program also is ?an economic engine for the community putting scores of people to work.? She added, ?It is an essential program to assure that transportation throughout the county flows smoothly and safely.? ?Two of the County?s largest responsibilities to taxpayers is public safety, and providing adequate and safe roads for our constituents,? said Mobile County Commissioner Jerry Carl. ?I am excited to see these road improvements as they provide a better quality of life for our constituents, as well as bring in much needed economic development to Mobile County.?