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Transportation
Alabama/Florida Toll Road May Lure Businesses
 Proposed Tollway: Phase one of the proposed project would connect I-10 and Dothan, Ala. Subsequent phases would link with Montgomery, Ala., and Panama City. [Map: ESRI, TeleAtlas] |
A group in Alabama is pushing for a tollway linking Dothan, Ala., to I-10 in Florida and is trying to win support for the idea from Florida counties along the proposed route. The non-profit Focus 2000 says the north-south road will help lure business and jobs to both southeast Alabama and northwest Florida.
The idea, however, is drawing mixed reaction in Washington and Jackson counties. Though bondholders would carry the risk, some question the project’s financial feasibility. Others worry that the tollway might detract from local business as it diverts traffic from existing roads, chiefly north-south U.S. 231, and the towns they connect.
Approval from corridor counties is needed before a formal feasibility study can be launched, says Luther Strange,
a Birmingham lawyer representing Focus 2000.
The road’s first phase would cover about 36 miles from Dothan to I-10 at a cost of $300 million to $400 million, Strange says. Later phases would span some 52 miles from I-10 to Panama City and 104 miles from Dothan to Montgomery, Ala.
Bill Stanton, executive director of the Jackson County Development Council and leader of a citizens committee exploring the plan, likes the idea. “Wherever it intersects with east-west arteries, it will be a major magnet for businesses.’’ Florida’s Great Northwest, the regional economic development organization, also has endorsed the tollway as a needed distribution link, a plus for beachgoers and a potential hurricane evacuation route.
