Mobile River

A new proposed bridge across Mobile Bay may get a second look from local and state planning officials. The plan was declared dead over a year ago due to tolls needed to pay for the project. A proposal to charge up to $6 to cross Mobile Bay on I-10 killed the plan late last year. Now, officials are discussing the proposal again, but some say local residents will have to have an alternative way to cross the bay without a toll.

Jack Burrell is the chairman of the Eastern Shore Metropolitan Planning Organization, or MPO.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama will soon close a Mobile River boat ramp for work to make it easier to use when the river is low. 

The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources says crews will remove silt from the Mount Vernon Public Boat Ramp launching basin starting June 22. The repairs are expected to take two to three weeks.

“The Gulf of Mexico; A Maritime History”

Author: John S. Sledge

Publisher: The University of South Carolina Press

Pages: 264

Price: $ 29.99 (Hardcover)

John Sledge, architectural historian for the city of Mobile, began publishing books with a rather narrow focus. He wrote on subjects such as Mobile cemeteries and Mobile ironworks. More recently he published a collection of literary columns from the “Mobile Press Register,” a study of the Mobile River and now, a history of the Gulf of Mexico and a summary of all that has happened in, on and around it.

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."

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey says officials will continue to look at ways to eliminate, or at least reduce, tolls of up to $6 on a proposed Mobile bridge.

Ivey told reporters Friday that she wished "we didn't have tolls period." The governor said it "would be wonderful if we could have no tolls." She said they should "at least let's see if we can have less tolls."

The proposed $2.1 billion bridge would cross the Mobile River and Mobile Bay. Opponents say the proposed tolls of up to $6 would hurt working families and small businesses.

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — A Mobile planning organization delayed a key vote on a controversial toll bridge amid pushback over the cost to commuters and families.

Mobile Area Metropolitan Planning Organization on Wednesday voted to delay a decision on whether to include the project in the region's transportation plan. The bridge must be in the plan to qualify for federal funding. The group will meet again in October after a state toll bridge authority meets.

Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson suggested the delay. Some toll bridge opponents applauded after the vote.

 Governor Kay Ivey has called a meeting of a state panel over a proposed toll bridge in coastal Alabama. 

Ivey asked the Alabama Toll Road, Bridge and Tunnel Authority to meet Sept. 17 in Montgomery.

They will discuss a planned bridge crossing the Mobile River and Mobile Bay. State officials say tolls from $3 to $6 are needed to help finance construction..

Ivey said she is sensitive to the impact on working families and small businesses. But the governor said she is also concerned about the "cost of doing nothing."

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — It's not clear yet what will be done with the wreckage of a 19th century schooner, discovered in the murky Mobile River, that is believed to be the last ship to bring enslaved people from Africa to the United States, but Mobile resident Jerry Ward knows what he'd like to see done.

Rough waters may be ahead for the Mobile Bay Basin.

The 2017 Most Endangered Rivers report named the Mobile River and Mobile Bay Basin as the fourth most endangered river in the country. The Mobile River System accounts for fourteen percent of all freshwater flowing in the United States. The Mobile Bay, its delta, and the rivers that sustain them are under threat, largely due to mismanagement of water resources along with waste and overuse of water.

Federal investigators say a 2013 barge fire in Mobile is linked to the facility failing to isolate tank-cleaning operations from potential sources of ignition.

National Transportation Safety Board investigators said in a report that Oil Recovery Company workers were stripping two barges of residual gasoline on April 24, 2013. Investigators say the barges vented flammable vapors during the cleaning process.

A Coast Guard report says a passing tugboat helped spark the massive explosions that rocked the Mobile River and injured three people in April.

A preliminary report   says workers were cleaning fuel storage tanks on two barges moored at Oil Recovery Co. in Mobile on April 24.

The report says flammable vapors from the barges entered the engine room of the towing boat Safety Runner, causing a brief fire. Investigators believe the flames traveled back to the barges and resulted in the explosions.