Everything you need to know about the I-10 Mobile River Bridge and Bayway project

Decades of discussions, changing price tags and community debate have surrounded the Interstate 10 corridor over Mobile Bay.

Following a major joint announcement by the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) and local metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), the historic project is officially moving forward under a new phased blueprint.

Whether you are a daily Bayway commuter or just an occasional visitor to the coast, here is a breakdown of what the plan means for you as of July 2026.

Why build the I-10 Mobile River Bridge?

The current route relies heavily on the Wallace Tunnel, which was built in 1973 to handle roughly 35,000 vehicles a day, according to 2019 documentation for the project. Today, it regularly bottlenecks under the strain of 65,000 vehicles daily, causing severe gridlock as cargo traffic simultaneously grows at the Port of Mobile.

To fix this congestion and modernize the corridor, the state planned a massive, multi-billion dollar overhaul spanning several miles of interstates and marine construction.

ALDOT split the work into two distinct phases to keep the project financially viable amid soaring national construction inflation and material costs:

• Phase One: Construction of a brand-new, six-lane cable-stayed bridge over the Mobile River. To save money upfront, the state will not immediately build a new Bayway structure. Instead, it will restripe the existing Bayway to accommodate six total lanes of traffic, three in each direction.
• Phase Two: Construction of a completely separate, elevated Bayway structure to be completed in the future as additional funding becomes available.

The complete timeline of the I-10 Mobile River Bridge and Bayway project

While groundbreaking is set for late 2026, the blueprint for a new Mobile River crossing actually dates back nearly 30 years:

• 1997: A state feasibility study formally concludes that a new bridge is necessary to handle massive traffic jams in the Wallace Tunnel, according to project documents. Plans initially focus solely on a river bridge.
• 2003–2008: The project scope expands dramatically. Recognizing that the existing four-lane Bayway would immediately bottleneck traffic coming off a new bridge, transportation officials decide the project must also include widening or replacing the entire Bayway.
• 2019: The project reaches a boiling point. ALDOT proposes a public-private partnership (P3) that includes a one-way toll ranging from $3.00 to $6.00 for all drivers, translating to roughly $90.00 a month for commuters, which ignites immense community backlash. Grassroots opposition groups form, local politicians withdraw support and both the Mobile and Eastern Shore MPOs officially kill the project by removing it from their short-term planning agendas.
• 2022: Facing continued gridlock, local leaders and ALDOT revive the project under a completely restructured model. The state drops the public-private partnership model, pledges to secure substantial state and federal grant funding, guarantees that existing routes like the Wallace Tunnel will remain free, and caps the target local toll rate at a much lower threshold.
• 2024: The U.S. Department of Transportation officially announces a historic $550 million grant for the project through the federal Bridge Investment Program, solidifying the largest competitive federal infrastructure grant ever awarded to the state of Alabama.
• July 2026: Backed by the previously secured federal funds, ALDOT and local MPOs officially vote to approve a newly revised, two-phase project blueprint. The compromise splits up the construction timeline to make the corridor affordable, locking in the $60.00 monthly commuter pass and finalized toll structure.

Proposed I-10 toll rates and free routes

ALDOT confirmed that no tolls will be collected until the new river bridge officially opens around 2031.

Existing alternate routes — including the Wallace Tunnel, the Bankhead Tunnel, the Causeway and the Africatown Bridge — will remain completely free.

For drivers who choose to take the new bridge, the approved toll pricing framework scales based on frequency and transponder types:

• Unlimited Monthly Commuter Pass — $60.00 per month (averages out to roughly $1.36 per trip for daily commuters)
• Standard ALGO Pass — $3.00 per trip
• Out-of-State / Interoperable Transponder — $7.70 per trip
• No Pass (Pay-by-Plate) — Billed directly via license plate photo (can later be converted to lower ALGO rates)

According to ALDOT officials, the tier structure is heavily designed to incentivize local drivers to grab an ALGO Pass to minimize their out-of-pocket costs while out-of-state travelers bear the higher per-trip rates.