EASTERN SHORE – Ask leaders from across Baldwin County what the major issues are with our infrastructure and you’ll get one answer: capacity.

“The biggest problem with roads in Baldwin County is capacity,” Baldwin County Commission Chairman Tucker Dorsey said. “Capacity problems are occurring on State Roads- Highway 181, Highway 31, I-10, Canal Road, Highway 59 and AL-104.”

Commissioner Chris Elliott, who represents the Eastern Shore on the commission, agreed with his colleague.

“Time and time again, we’re told by the state that they’re aware of the issues our citizens face down here, but nothing ever seems to get done about them,” Elliott said.

Elected officials across the region said traffic and the problems it creates are always at the forefront of any discussion that comes before them, especially as the county continues to grow at record pace.

Mayor Mike McMillan of Spanish Fort said his city has the luxury of having three state roads (U.S. Highway 98, Highway 181 and Highway 31) run through his city and with the fast-paced growth there, those roads are quickly outgrowing their capacity.

“Highway 31 is in desperate need of widening,” McMillan said. “Because of the double digit growth we’ve seen, at certain times of day and especially on Fridays and Sunday, that whole area just turns into gridlock, but we’re not on ALDOT’s schedule until 2020. By 2020, Spanish Fort is projected to double in size. If we don’t start on this now, we’re going to be so far behind the eight ball that it may be an even bigger problem.”

Elliott agreed with McMillan’s frustrations on Highway 31.

“Highway 31 is one of those things that’s been on the books for a decade,” Elliott said. “The utilities are moved, the right of way has been acquired and the plans are ready, but no work has been done.”

Elliott said that stalled project is especially frustrating because of the number of people who had to move or had homes relocated or demolished because of the planned project.

“My biggest problem with what ALDOT has done is I watched them kick old people out of their homes and condemn the properties 10 years ago, but they haven’t done a single thing on this project,” Elliott said. “Those people could have stayed in their homes that they raised their families in, but ALDOT kicked them out. It’s one thing to kick people out, but it’s a slap in the face for them to do that and then not even work on the project.”

County officials say they’re trying to do their best to maintain and preserve the county controlled roads, but the toughest issues they face continue to be the state roads that have become the county’s biggest thoroughfares.

“We’re doing what we can here locally,” Elliott said. “US-98 is an issue, but we’re working painfully slow on an adaptive signaling process. It’s a work around on the bigger issues there, but there’s no state money to do anything else; we’ll do what we have to do.”

All of the elected officials agreed that the funding challenges ALDOT faces are impeding progress on fixing these Baldwin County roads.

“ALDOT has essentially turned into a maintenance organization,” Elliott said. “With the funding it gets through the gas taxes continuing to decrease and no new sources of revenue coming in, it’s going to lead to counties having to fix state roads with local dollars.”

Some remain optimistic that ALDOT might come through with promises and plans it has made with the county.

“ALDOT has its revenue challenges, but we need them to invest in expanding the infrastructure of Baldwin County, so that we may continue to grow and generate perpetual revenue back to the state,” Dorsey said.

Officials say they’re looking at any and every option to try to address these issues.

“Are we just going to sit here with our arms crossed and say ‘It’s ALDOT’s problem, not ours?’” Elliott asked. “Of course not. At some point, there’s going to come a time where we’re going to say ‘Fine, we have to fix it ourselves.’”

McMillan said he feels the impact Baldwin County’s traffic issues have on tourism may get the state to finally address the county’s concerns, including the proposed I-10 Bridge.

“If we’ve got people coming here on vacation that having to wait an hour, two hours in traffic just to get down to the beach or wherever they’re going, they aren’t going to come back, and that affects revenue at the county and the state level,” McMillan said. “They depend on the money we generate here to pay for a lot of things, and if those tourism dollars stop coming in, they’re going to take notice.”

For now, Baldwin County residents must wait and see what, if any, of these projects will move forward on ALDOT’s agenda in the coming years.