DAPHNE, Ala.—Daphne's Public Works Director Richard Johnson said the Alabama Department of transportation plans to widen Interstate 10 from U.S. Highway 98 to east of U.S. Highway 181.

Johnson and Mayor Fred Small went to a meeting in Mobile last week to hear a presentation on widening the I-10 Mobile River Bridge and Bayway, and when the widening of I-10 in Daphne came up, Johnson was told it “was scheduled for budget in fiscal year 2012.”

Johnson said from what he understood, the plans are to make I-10 from exit 35 to a little east of exit 38 three lanes on each side, making it six lanes in total.

Johnson told the Daphne City Council Monday that the city's seven-members leadership is being asked to re-join the cooperative agreement with the city of Mobile and the Alabama Department of Transportation for the widening of the Interstate 10 Mobile River Bridge and Bayway.

Johnson told the council the widening would reduce traffic congestion on the road by widening it from four lanes to eight lanes.

“The Bayway is two lanes in each direction,” Johnson said. “The idea is after widening, the Bayway will be four lanes in each direction.”

“It would still be a step down,” Johnson said about the number of lanes from the Bayway to I-10 in Daphne.