Ivey: Hwy. 43 widening to begin this year

After more than three decades of discussions and studies, the proposed expansion of U.S. Hwy. 43 finally may be happening.

In her State of the State Address this month, Gov. Kay Ivey promised work on the highway will begin soon.

“Tonight, I’m proud to announce we are moving forward with a project that other governors have talked about but, until now, no one has been able to do,” Ivey said. “Later this year, we’re going to turn the shovel on a long discussed four-lane Highway 43 from Thomasville to Tuscaloosa.”

Widening that stretch of road “will provide interstate connectivity and economic development opportunities for many rural counties in Alabama’s Black Belt between the cities of Mobile and Tuscaloosa,” she added.

State Department of Transportation officials have held public hearings and secured rights-of-way over many years, but until now no concrete assurance had been made to move the project forward.

Tony Harris, Communications Bureau Chief for ALDOT, said the expansion is possible because of the Rebuild Alabama Act passed in a special session of the Legislature in 2019. The act authorized an increase in the excise tax for gasoline for the first time since 1992.

Harris said the act created several categories, one being the Economic Development Road Program. At the time the act was passed, 17 counties in the state did not have four-lane connectivity to a major federal or Interstate highway.

“The biggest concentration of those counties is along the U.S. 43 corridor between Thomasville and Tuscaloosa,” Harris said.

For decades local leaders along that corridor have discussed the need for a major north-south route through west Alabama, he continued. “The 43 corridor is the logical place to start.”

This is the first major project under the EDRP, he continued. Other projects underway are localized in a single county, but this expansion involves “multiple counties at one time and provide four-lane improvement.”

ALDOT officials have yet to finalize the route. “To the greatest extent possible we want to stay along the existing alignment,” Harris explained.

He said public information meetings will be held, and the department will work with property owners on rights-of-way.

While he could not give a specific date for the start of construction, Harris said the governor wants to begin soon. “IF at all possible, we will have at least an initial project by the end of the year.”

City and county officials expressed delight with the governor’s plan.

“It’s going to have a great impact on the county,” said Marengo County Commissioner Freddie Armstead.

Demopolis Mayor Woody Collins knew that something was in the works, but he did not know what. “This is a game-changer for Demopolis,” Collins said.

County engineer Ken Atkins said the announcement came as a surprise to him. He had not heard anything about work on the highway for at least 10 years.