Alabama, Florida pool resources for evacuation routes

Originally published by the Mobile Press Register

Thursday, September 20, 2007
By CONNIE BAGGETTStaff Reporter

FLOMATON -- To improve hurricane evacuation routes in southwest Alabama and west Florida, officials in both states have committed to a quick fix and a long haul.
Heavy machinery crawled last week along Alabama 113, north of Flomaton. Workers used Alabama and Florida resources to revive a four-laning project that was started nearly 50 years ago but never finished.

Hurricanes Ivan in 2004 and Katrina in 2005 highlighted the need for opening four lanes from Interstate 65 to Pensacola, officials said, and Alabama 113's widening could be finished by next fall.

Farther to the east, the two states are working to link Navarre and Milton, Fla., to I-65 with four lanes through the Brewton area. That project, which involves widening about 80 miles of two-lane roads, is expected to take more than a decade.

"Four-laning Alabama 113 should alleviate the bottleneck along that route," said Ron Poiroux, Alabama Department of Transportation division engineer. "We will also be widening the on-ramps at Interstate 65, so traffic will flow smoothly during reverse-laning."

Letters from state and local officials in Alabama and Florida dating back to the 1960s trace the project from an agreement to establish a four-lane route from I-65 to Pensacola. Florida kept its part of the deal, while Alabama's money ran out.

Alabama built Highway 113 to connect to U.S. 29, but it had only two lanes. In recent times, thousands of hurricane evacuees headed northward found themselves stranded there, barely moving.

The problems sparked new interest in opening four-lane routes, and by last year, Florida agreed to contribute millions to the effort.

There were delays, however, when people in Atmore, Brewton and Flomaton pushed for the four-laned roads through their areas.

Atmore residents wanted a route linking Alabama 21 and Florida 97. Alabama had already four-laned 21, however, and Florida officials said 97 would not help as it connects to U.S. 29.

Brewton lobbied for a route connecting U.S. 31 at Evergreen to Florida 87. When studies showed U.S. 31 four-laning would be cost-prohibitive, the focus changed to Alabama 41. That project landed on the Alabama Department of Transportation's five-year plan.
Florida, however, still clamored for a faster option.

Escambia County, Fla., pledged $4 million to get the quickest, cheapest route completed using Alabama 113. Alabama offered $20 million to the project, while Escambia County, Ala., pledged $500,000, as did Flomaton.

The additional route through Brewton remains viable, although there is much planning to be done.

In Florida, Highway 87 is also a work in progress. "Right now we are widening 87 from U.S. 98 to Interstate 10," said Tommy Speights, spokesman for the Florida Department of Transportation.
"We have a section from 98 to Five Forks completed, and we are working on Hammock Road to U.S. 90. We have the rights of way purchased from Eglin Air Force Base to do the middle section, but we need some more money to get the work done."
But Florida, he said, plans "on four-laning 87 all the way through."