Thirty-plus years of studies are over. The Alabama Department of Transportation issued notice to proceed on the Mobile River Bridge and Bayway on Sept. 25, and Gov. Kay Ivey’s office announced on Sept. 29 that construction is authorized on what the state calls the largest transportation project in its history. The design-build contract is worth $3.2 billion, and the joint venture holding it is Kiewit Massman Traylor.
A ceremonial groundbreaking is set for Oct. 2 in Mobile. ALDOT has said full construction starts Oct. 1.
Who’s building the Mobile River Bridge
KMT is Kiewit Infrastructure South Co., Massman Construction Co. and Traylor Bros., Inc. The core of the job is a six-lane, cable-stayed bridge carrying I-10 across the Mobile River, about 2.5 miles long according to ENR, plus roughly one mile of reconstructed Bayway to tie it in. The existing Bayway viaducts, which run more than seven miles across Mobile Bay, get restriped for three lanes in each direction instead of being replaced.
That’s the part worth reading twice. The original concept rebuilt the full Bayway at a higher elevation along with the bridge. Phase 1 doesn’t. ENR reports ALDOT is now targeting 2036 to start the Bayway replacement, which means the state is betting that 1970s-era viaducts can carry widened traffic loads for another decade.
How the $3.2 billion bridge is financed
ALDOT closed the financing on Sept. 18. According to the department, the stack is a $2.52 billion TIFIA loan from USDOT, a $550 million Bridge Investment Program grant, a $125 million INFRA grant and toll revenue bonds sold to investors in September. ENR puts the all-in Phase 1 cost at about $4.1 billion once right-of-way, utilities, contingency, interest and toll systems are added to the construction contract.
Tolls repay the debt. ALDOT has set the passenger rate at $3 per trip with an ALGO Pass, or $60 a month for unlimited crossings, and no tolls are collected until the bridge opens. The Wallace and Bankhead tunnels, the Africatown Bridge and the Causeway stay free. ENR reports the rates escalate each year by 5% or regional inflation, whichever is higher, for the first 10 years, then by 2.5% or inflation.
Toll pricing is what sank this project before. A 2019 public-private partnership plan collapsed under public opposition to the tolls it would have required. The 2026 version keeps a free alternative on every route and puts the state, not a concessionaire, on the hook for traffic risk.
Mobile River Bridge schedule and what to watch
KMT has about five years. ALDOT expects the bridge to open in late 2031, which is also when tolling begins, so any schedule slip pushes back the revenue that services the TIFIA loan and the bonds. Marine foundations and the cable-stayed pylons in an active shipping channel will set the pace.
Bridge megaprojects are moving across the country this fall. Ames-Kraemer broke ground on the $1.8 billion Blatnik Bridge in September, and Exchange’s I-10 Mobile River Bridge and Bayway project listing tracks the team and scope. The ALDOT financing announcement and ENR’s report carry the funding detail.
The number that matters most isn’t $3.2 billion. It’s 2036, the year the rest of the Bayway is supposed to start.