FAIRHOPE, Ala. (AP) — South Alabama officials dealt what the governor called a fatal blow to a proposed toll bridge across Mobile Bay.
The Eastern Shore Metropolitan Planning Organization voted 8-1 Wednesday to remove the bridge from the area's transportation plan. The project must be in the plan to qualify for federal funding.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey quickly issued a statement saying "There is no pathway forward, and this project is dead."
The planning group's decision came after a four-hour meeting in which Baldwin County residents expressed anger over the tolls that could cost $6 each way.
Daphne Mayor Dane Haygood said if the bridge requires tolls then it's clear that the residents of coastal Alabama choose no bridge.
State officials had said the tolls were needed to finance the proposed $2.1 billion bridge.